The Gold Swordsman
by Count Morningstar
Summary: When Leafa, Lisbeth and Sinon decide to check out a new underground dungeon in ALO, they end up getting saved by a player who looks almost exactly like Kirito. The three team up with the Kirito doppelgänger to explore the dungeon, but wonder if he's really who he seems to be. Rated M for later steamy scenes.
1. Mound of Terror

**Introduction:** I think I'd like to start by apologizing to any of my regular readers who might be seeing this for once again stopping work on my current Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL story, _The Millennium Tournament_. I'm not putting that story on hiatus again, but merely taking a short break from it because I'm currently stuck in the next duel. So until I get unstuck, I've decided to start work on this little side project. Another thing I'd like to point out to my regulars is that this SAO story you're about to read is not in any way connected to my Yu-Gi-Oh! Online series, i.e. _Monster World Online_ and its sequels. That series is still on hiatus, and there's still a poll going on my profile asking whether or not I should just reboot that series (poll will be closed by January 31st, 2016).

As for this little story, I got the idea for it this past summer and even started developing an outline for it. I was stuck on the story's development until only last week when I decided to eliminate what was originally the story's main plot line and start over from scratch. The inspiration for this tale came from the Calibur arc of the SAO II anime, but I'm not going to say any more on that at the moment since any further elaboration would spoil some of this story's major twists. So I'll shut up for now and get on with the story.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online, nor do I own the works of H.P. Lovecraft.

* * *

Chapter 1: Mound of Terror

It was just after school as Suguha Kirigaya waited at a stoplight on her way home. The light finally turned green after what almost seemed like five minutes, and as the dark-haired girl made it across the street, she spied a familiar face sitting at a small round table outside a little sidewalk café with her nose buried in a book. The person in question was a young woman with short dark hair wearing glasses, along with a school uniform that had a black jacket and tie. Suguha recognized the young woman as her friend, Shino Asada. Seeing that she was in no big hurry to get home, Suguha decided to go over and say hello.

"I sure didn't expect to see you on the way home." Sugu spoke after walking up to the table, causing Shino to look up from her book.

"Oh, hi." Shino responded after seeing who it was. "I'm meeting Rika here in a bit. You're welcome to sit down though."

"Thanks." Suguha replied as she took the chair across from her and sat down. "So what're you reading?"

"It's a book of stories by an American horror writer named H.P. Lovecraft." Shino answered. "I checked it out from my school's library this afternoon. The story I'm on right now is one called _The Mound_."

"Oh yeah. I read online that they're adapting that story into a movie being made here in Japan." Suguha recalled.

"Yeah. That's why I decided to check this book out." Shino replied. "I thought it'd be more interesting to read the original story before seeing the movie."

"I didn't really peg you for someone who was into horror, Shino." A familiar voice cut in.

Suguha and Shino looked, and standing next to their table was a young woman with short brown hair wearing a sweater over her school uniform. The two recognized the girl as their friend, Rika Shinozaki.

"How long have you been listening in?" Shino asked Rika with a smirk.

"Oh, I just caught the tail end of what you two were talking about." Rika replied as she sat down at the other available chair. "Hi Suguha."

"Well, since we're both here, I guess we should get down to business." Shino decided as she shut her book.

"What're you two here to talk about anyway?" Suguha asked.

"It's no big secret, really. Shino and I decided to meet in person to talk about raiding that new underground dungeon that showed up in ALO about five weeks ago." Rika explained.

"Oh right. The one under that big mound that suddenly seemed to appear in Imp territory." Suguha recalled. "It's kind of weird that the admins never made an announcement about that update."

"Tell me about it." Rika agreed. "Either way though, from what I've heard there are supposed to be some really high-level monsters in that dungeon. Not to mention some extremely rare items, though that's just a rumor. Because of the monsters, nobody's really been able to go down there and look around."

"From what little I've heard, the dungeon seems to be based on _The Mound_ , that story I'm in the middle of reading." Shino revealed. "That's the other reason I decided to check out this book. I thought reading the story might give us a better idea of what we might run into down there."

"Do you think the admins decided to update the game with that dungeon to promote the movie?" Suguha asked.

"I wouldn't be surprised." Rika replied. "Whatever the reason though, Shino and I are thinking of raiding the dungeon later tonight. You're welcome to join us, Suguha."

"Sure, it sounds fun." Suguha agreed. "Plus there hasn't been much to do in ALO since my brother got so busy."

"Yeah, it seems like we hardly see Kirito or Asuna in ALO these days." Shino observed.

"Kazuto's been really busy with his studies lately." Suguha explained. "And when he hasn't been busy with that, he's been spending all his time level grinding in New Aincrad."

"It's the same story with Asuna." Rika added. "When she's not throwing herself into her school work, she's been in ALO grinding her levels like crazy."

"Come to think of it, we haven't been seeing Klein or Agil in the game much either." Shino recalled. "I wonder if they've been trying to raise their levels too."

"Probably. It's all because the admins did that big update a few months ago and unlocked Floors 71 through 80 in New Aincrad. Ever since then, they've been pushing themselves hard in the game to get ready to fight the boss on Floor 75."

"What's the big deal about the boss on that floor?" Shino asked.

"Floor 75 is the last one that was cleared before SAO ended." Rika explained.

"I thought the original version of Aincrad from SAO had a hundred floors." Shino recalled.

"It did. But right after that boss fight on Floor 75, Kirito figured out Akihiko Kayaba's identity in the game and challenged him to a battle right then and there." Rika replied. "Once Kayaba was defeated, SAO ended and nobody had the chance to see what was on the floor above."

"Kazuto really wants to see what's on Floor 76." Suguha admitted. "That's why he's been training so hard in the game lately."

"I wasn't there during that battle, but I heard that the boss on Floor 75 in SAO was really tough." Rika recalled. "Which means that the boss of that floor in New Aincrad is even tougher. It's not surprising that most of the top players in ALO have been training like mad lately to get ready to fight it."

"If things hadn't got so busy for me at school, I would've been training right alongside Kazuto." Suguha admitted.

"I know what you mean. Things kinda got hectic for me at school too." Shino revealed. "Say Rika, why haven't you been training to fight that boss in New Aincrad?"

"Well, I gotta admit that as an SAO survivor I'm pretty curious about what's on Floor 76. But I think I'd rather sit that boss fight out." Rika replied. "That battle's more important to Kirito and Asuna than it is to me. Besides, just think of all the rare weapons material that might be waiting down in that new dungeon."

"In that case, what time should we meet up tonight for the raid?" Shino asked.

"How 'bout 7:00?" Suguha suggested.

"Works for me." Shino agreed.

"Okay then. We'll meet up at that mound at 7:00." Rika decided.

* * *

As soon as she had finished dinner, Suguha went up to her room and logged into the virtual game of ALfhime Online. After traveling through a tunnel of light, she emerged in the game as her blonde alter ego, Leafa. Leafa quickly took off into the starry night sky with her transparent green wings and headed straight for Imp territory. Within a few minutes, the blonde fairy spotted the large flat-topped mound that hid the strange subterranean dungeon that she and her friends had been discussing earlier that afternoon. Leafa couldn't deny the strange haunting quality that the mound seemed to have. It was quite vast, and the grey stone that it seemed to be made from was colored black by the night sky. Leafa felt that the landmark could be some kind of tomb.

As Leafa headed down towards the mound's base, she spotted a pair of familiar figures waiting on the ground for her. One of them was Rika's pink-haired alter ego in ALO, Lisbeth the blacksmith. The other figure was a young woman with short blue hair, cat ears and a tail who Leafa recognized as Shino's avatar, the fairy archer known as Sinon.

"Guess we're finally all here." Lisbeth observed as Leafa made her landing.

"Sorry I'm a little bit late." Leafa told them.

"No big deal. Let's see what's inside this thing." Lisbeth decided.

In a few moments, the three fairy players took back off into the air and landed on the top of the mound. A few feet away from where they landed they found a square opening in the ground that revealed a set of stone steps that went down into the earth. After passing down the steps, the trio entered a long square cut corridor that seemed to stretch on into infinity. As soon as Leafa cast a spell that allowed them all to see in the dark, the three of them headed off into the unknown.

"You know, I'm kinda surprised that Silica didn't want to come with us." Leafa remarked.

"I invited her along this morning at school, but the second I mentioned that this place was probably based on a horror movie, she said no." Lisbeth revealed. "It's probably just as well. The poor girl would be scared stiff walking down a long tunnel like this."

"I'm a little spooked by this place too, to be honest." Sinon admitted. "It's probably because I finished reading that story right before I logged in."

"Was it really that scary?" Leafa asked.

"It was kinda creepy, but it's not like I'll have nightmares from it." Sinon answered. "Of course only reading about it is one thing. To actually experience something like it is…"

Lisbeth stopped and held up her hand to silence them. "I hear something coming."

The three remained rooted in the spot they were standing and listened to the darkness. Sure enough, they all heard the sound of footsteps coming towards them. At first, the only thing they could see was a floating blue flame in the distance. As the flame came closer, the trio saw that the flame was attached to the body of a woman with chalk-white skin and was taking the place of the woman's head. The headless woman had a piece of low-cut armor made of a strange black metal covering her breasts, and around her waist was a very short skirt made of a tattered black cloth. In her right hand, the woman held a sword made of the same black metal, and in her left she held a round black shield.

"Okay, that thing is freaky!" Lisbeth declared.

Suddenly the headless woman stopped walking and charged directly at the three girls. As Leafa and Lisbeth stood frozen and watched the creature, two arrows suddenly flew through the air and struck it in the torso. The thing stopped its charge upon being hit and its HP gauge took a slight drop. It took Lisbeth and Leafa a moment to realize that Sinon had just fired her bow.

"I'll hit the thing from here." Sinon told her as she strung another arrow. "You two rush it and keep it busy."

Leafa and Lisbeth nodded and charged at the headless woman before it could fully recover. When the came in range, the headless woman swung her sword at Lisbeth. The pink-hair blacksmith twisted her body and just barely avoided being cut by the blade, and a split second later she hit the thing in the side of its torso with her mace. At the same time, Leafa slashed the headless woman in the back with her katana. As the creature turned around to take a slash at the blonde fairy, one of Sinon's arrows struck the thing in the shoulder.

The headless woman's HP gauge dropped significantly with all those hits, but it still had a little more than half a gauge left. Lisbeth and Leafa both jumped a step back as the thing recovered and slashed her sword at them again.

"Man! This thing's tough!" Lisbeth declared. "No wonder so many players have had trouble coming down here."

"Sinon! You think you have enough arrows?" Leafa asked.

"We should be good for a while!" Sinon told them. "But we should probably finish this fight soon!"

"Then let's trash her!" Lisbeth declared. "Leafa! Keep that thing busy for a minute! I don't think my current weapon is going to cut it!"

"Right!" Leafa replied before charging back into battle.

After being struck by another one of Sinon's arrows, the headless woman recovered and took a swing at Leafa with her sword. Leafa blocked the attack with her own blade and slashed the thing across the chest. The headless woman recovered and managed to slash Leafa across her left shoulder, taking a small chunk off her HP. The blonde fairy jumped back to avoid another strike from the creature's sword. Suddenly Lisbeth charged at the monster with a large gold hammer in her hand and struck the monster in its side.

A massive spark of electricity went off when the head of the hammer impacted the monster's side. The headless woman was nearly knocked off her feet upon being hit by the hammer and her HP gauge dipped into the mid yellow zone. Sinon hit the creature in the front of the torso with two more arrows, dropping its HP even further. After Lisbeth struck the headless woman again with her gold hammer, the creature's gauge went down into the red and she fell to one knee. With two hits from Leafa's sword, the headless woman's HP gauge dropped to zero and it shattered into blue polygons. A holographic screen appeared in front of everyone and informed them of the experience points they earned from the battle.

"Wow! And that was just a random monster encounter." Lisbeth remarked. "This dungeon's not for wimps."

"No kidding." Leafa agreed as she sheathed her sword. "I can't believe you actually brought out Mjolnir for that fight."

"Neither can I." Lisbeth admitted. "I sure am glad Klein made me promise not to melt this thing down for material when he gave it to me."

"Well if anything, this battle just proves that this dungeon is based on that story, _The Mound_." Sinon spoke.

"You mean a monster like that was in the story?" Leafa asked.

"Yeah. It acted as the guard to the entrance into the mound during the night." Sinon answered. "Actually in the story, the woman used to be a person until the people that lived under the mound did stuff to her."

"What kind of stuff?" Lisbeth asked.

"I'm not sure I want to know." Leafa told them.

"So, shall we keep going further or turn back?" Sinon asked them.

"I say we keep going." Lisbeth voted. "I mean we've come this far, right?"

"I can keep going." Leafa told them.

"I can too." Sinon replied.

"Okay then. Let's keep moving." Lisbeth decided.

The trio pressed on further into the dark corridor in silence. They continued straight for several minutes until the passage took a downward slope that led them deeper into the earth. Before long, Leafa and the others came to a large rectangular chamber that was filled with a strange mist. As soon as the trio entered the large room, the mist began to clear and the chamber became filled with familiar blue flames. In moments, the three were confronted by a hoard of at least forty headless women like the one they had fought not long after entering the mound.

"Oh crap!" Lisbeth cursed. "There are more of these things?"

"And in a hoard too!" Leafa observed. "This is gonna be messy!"

"There's no going back now!" Sinon pointed out as she prepared to fire another arrow. "Let's just take out as many as we can!"

As the headless creatures began to advance on the trio, Sinon fired an arrow at one of the headless women at the front of the hoard. Leafa and Lisbeth then charged in and attacked two others. Lisbeth struck two of the undead things with her hammer, only for a third to slash her across the back with its sword. Leafa meanwhile managed to slash three of the creatures with her own blade, but took another hit from a fourth that charged at her from the right. Sinon continued to fire her arrows, aiming at the creatures that Lisbeth and Leafa had already damaged.

The battle raged on for many minutes. Between them, Lisbeth and Leafa had managed to destroy eight of the headless women, with Sinon finishing off five of the creatures they had weakened. Yet at the same time, Leafa and Lisbeth had taken several hits and Sinon was starting to run low on arrows. As Leafa delivered the final blow to another headless monster, a fast moving object charged at her from her left and rammed into her. The impact hurled Leafa into the wall of the stone chamber and took her HP into the red zone.

As Leafa sat up, she saw the creature that had rammed into her. It was a headless man with chalk-white skin, wearing black armor like that of a Roman gladiator on his torso. Like the other creatures in the chamber, the thing had a blue flame in place of a head, as well as two smaller blue flames where its arms should be. As Leafa stood back up, the thing looked as though it was ready to charge at her again. A concerned Sinon and Lisbeth noticed what had happened and called out Leafa's name.

Suddenly a gold shape darted through the entrance past Sinon and charged at the monster Leafa was doing battle with. The shape turned out to be a warrior clad in a long gold coat and wielding a gold sword in each hand. In seconds, the warrior delivered several powerful strokes of his blades to the headless thing, bringing its HP to zero and causing it to shatter apart.

"Are you okay, dear lady?" the warrior asked in a refined English accent. Leafa couldn't help but find the voice to be very familiar.

"Um, yeah. I think so." The blonde fairy answered.

"Excellent. It seems that I arrived not a moment too soon." The stranger replied. "Please stay back and leave the rest to me. You've taken far too much damage in this battle to continue."

Before Leafa could respond, the stranger charged into the hoard of headless women and began hacking away at them with his twin blades. After Lisbeth finished off two more of the creatures, she paused to look at the gold stranger taking on the rest of the hoard. Sinon had stopped firing to look on as well. The remaining headless women began to converge on the stranger, seeming to forget about the three girls.

"Damn! This is getting a little out of hand!" the stranger declared. "Pardon me, ladies! But if you would indulge me for a moment, I need you all to fall back to the entrance! What I'm about to do might cause you harm if you remain in the chamber!"

Leafa and Lisbeth looked to each other across the room and nodded before quickly heading over to the entryway where Sinon was still watching. Soon after, the gold stranger chanted a spell that Leafa and the others had not seen before in ALO. Suddenly the entire chamber became filled with a blinding flash of gold lighting. When the light cleared, the stranger stood in place, breathing heavily. Meanwhile, the headless women were all on one knee with their HP gauges in the red.

"No way! Since when is there a field area attack spell like that in ALO?" an awestruck Lisbeth asked.

"I'm now unable to act for the next sixty seconds because of the spell I just cast!" the stranger told them. "I strongly suggest that you act now to finish them off!"

"He's right!" Sinon told the other two as she readied another arrow. "We have to end this now!"

As Sinon fired her arrow, Leafa and Lisbeth charged back into battle. The arrow struck one of the headless women and shattered it to polygons on impact. Lisbeth and Leafa destroyed seven more in a matter of seconds. Just as the remaining monsters got back to their feet, the stranger recovered and finished them off with several sword strikes of his own. In moments, the chamber was left completely empty of monsters. With the threat gone, the stranger in gold sheathed his swords in the two gold scabbards crossed over his back.

"Um, excuse me." Leafa spoke. "I don't know who you are, but thank you for your help."

"Think nothing of it." The stranger replied. "After all, it would've been unacceptable for me to simply stand by and let three fair maidens like yourselves be slaughtered."

As soon as the stranger turned around to face them, Leafa and the others were completely stunned. Now that the dust, the three were able to get a very good look at the gold swordsman. He had slightly long blonde hair that was tied back in a ponytail and very striking emerald eyes. Under the long gold coat he wore, the stranger had on a piece of gold armor over a green shirt. The rest of his outfit consisted of a pair of long gold pants gold boots, along with a pair of fingerless gold gloves on his hands. But the thing about the stranger that really struck Leafa and the others was that his face looked exactly like Kirito's. Even his voice, despite the accent, sounded exactly like Kirito's.

"No way!" Sinon exclaimed. "Is that you Kirito?"

"What's with the new look?" Lisbeth asked him. "Are you trying out a new character or something?"

"If you did, it looks like you decided to play as a sylph." Leafa observed. "Is this because of the sylph character that Asuna created for herself?"

The stranger looked at the three with a quizzical expression. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you three have me confused with someone else. I go by the name, Donis in this world. I know nothing of this Kirito you speak of."

"C'mon. Is this some kind of joke or something?" Lisbeth asked. "If that really is you, Kirito you're taking this new character of yours way too extreme."

"Maybe it really isn't him. It's not like my brother to take an online persona that far." Leafa told them.

"I don't know. He really played up that act of pretending to be a girl player in GGO when I first met him." Sinon pointed out. "I wouldn't be all that surprised if he decided to let off some steam by playing some weird joke like this on us."

After pondering the situation for a brief moment, Leafa brought up her menu screen and accessed her friend list. She looked up Kirito on the list and saw that his current location was on one of the upper floors of New Aincrad.

"According to my friend list, Kazuto is level grinding in New Aincrad right now." Leafa told the others.

"If that's true, then this guy can't be Kirito." Sinon realized.

"We're sorry about the mix-up." Lisbeth told Donis. "You just look exactly like a friend of ours."

"It's quite all right." Donis assured them. "That's a rather odd coincidence that I'd have the same appearance as your friend."

"You have no idea." Sinon told him. "You even use two one-handed swords just like he does."

"Is that so?" Donis replied. "I would be quite interested to meet this friend of yours."

"You said your name was Donis, right?" Leafa asked. "I'm Leafa. Thanks again for coming to our rescue."

"And I'm Lisbeth." The pink-haired blacksmith informed Donis. "But you can call me Liz."

"I'm Sinon." The fairy archer told him.

"It's a true pleasure to make the acquaintance of such lovely young ladies." Donis replied.

Leafa and the others all blushed a bit at the comment. They couldn't help but find the Kirito lookalike to be quite charming, much more so than the genuine article.

"So, um Donis. Are you very familiar with this dungeon?" Leafa asked.

"I've actually been exploring this place almost since the day it first appeared." Donis revealed. "In fact I was just on my way to so some more exploring of what lies beyond this chamber when I ran across you. It's rather lucky that I did too, as that was the worst hoard of those headless beasts that I have ever seen down here."

"You've encountered hoards of those things before?" Sinon asked.

"Yes, but they usually consisted of only ten or fifteen of the wretched things at most." Donis revealed. "Of course this is my first time coming down here at night, so I have to wonder if perhaps those creatures are more active during the nighttime hours."

"That wouldn't surprise me." Sinon responded. "In the story this dungeon seems to be based on, the headless woman only came out to guard the entrance into the mound at night."

"Say Donis, would you be interested in joining our party?" Lisbeth asked. "We sure could use a guide in a place like this."

"I would be honored." Donis agreed.

Lisbeth smiled and sent a party invitation to Donis. The gold fairy pressed the accept button on his holographic screen, and in less than a second his HP gauge appeared to Leafa and the others beneath their own.

"Before we proceed any further, I should probably do something about your current state." Donis decided.

With that, the Kirito lookalike cast another spell and Leafa and the others began to glow with a gold aura. In moments, their HP went up to a hundred percent.

"Thanks for that." Leafa told him.

Donis smiled and walked up to the blonde fairy. "It was no trouble at all, dear lady."

The Kirito lookalike then kneeled down and kissed Leafa's hand. A deep blush quickly appeared on Leafa's face.

"Why don't we go on ahead?" Sinon suggested.

"Quite right." Donis agreed as he rose back to his feet. "I can assure you all that the world you are about to see is filled with wonders beyond all imagination."

The trio followed Donis through the archway at the other side of the chamber. What they saw beyond that entryway was a world that they were unprepared for.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** As I'm sure many reading have figured out, there are going to be a few things from the works of H.P. Lovecraft showing up in this story. Originally, the main plot of this story was going to involve Asuna and Kirito taking on Lovecraft's iconic deity, Cthulhu. But after giving it a lot of thought, I decided that plot was too weak compared to the storyline with Donis. So I decided to cut the Cthulhu storyline and expand the one with Donis.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	2. The World of Blue

**Author's Note:** Last night I got an anonymous guest review telling me that this story is starting out the same way as the _Sword Art Online: Girls' Ops_ manga. I was already well aware of that fact going in, and giving this story the same kind of beginning as _Girls' Ops_ was pretty much unavoidable. I can assure everyone reading though that this story will be much, much different from that manga.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online (or the works of H.P. Lovecraft).

* * *

Chapter 2: The World of Blue

After following Donis through the passageway, Leafa and the others arrived in a large underground city within a vast cavern that seemed to go in infinitely. The walls of the cavern were made of a stone that gave off a strange blue light that that lit everything in perfect detail. The ruined buildings of the city appeared to be more ancient than anything Leafa and the rest of the gang had seen in the land of the fairies. What was even stranger about the city was that there was a mixture of architecture where the building were concerned. Most of the structures were buildings that looked like they were from ancient Rome, complete with the iconic Roman pillars that adorned the entryway. Many of the larger buildings in the city meanwhile were pyramids like the ones built by the Aztecs and Mayans, and were made of a peculiar black stone. The trait of the city that really stood out to Leafa and the others though was that it was completely dead and silent as a tomb.

"You were right, Donis. There's no way I could've imagined something like this." Lisbeth spoke as they walked through the city. "Hey, are there any more of those headless monsters running around here?"

"Their encounter rate seems to be much higher in the passage we came through, but a few of them do pop up in the actual city every now and then." Donis answered.

"I wonder what sort of people used to live here." Leafa spoke.

"In the original story, this place is called K'n-yan. It was inhabited by a race of immortals with psychic powers." Sinon answered. "I guess they were all wiped out in the ALO version."

"What were those immortals like in the story?" Lisbeth asked.

"Pretty messed up." Sinon replied. "Because they were immortal, they had pretty much grown bored with everything in life. So they'd do things like have orgies or use their powers to torture and mutilate the creatures they kept as slaves or any poor person who wandered into their city from above."

"What do you mean by mutilate?" Leafa asked.

"You know those headless monsters we fought back in the tunnel?" the fairy archer replied. "The character in the story those things are based on was a woman those immortals used their powers on."

"That's… actually kinda disturbing." Lisbeth admitted.

"Let's talk about something a little less morbid, shall we?" Donis suggested. "I've only explored a few of these buildings and have so far found nothing of significant value. Tonight though, I was going to try checking out that building just up ahead of us."

The three looked in the direction that Donis was pointing in and saw a fairly large Roman style building elevated by a set of large steps. It had a dome-shaped roof and at least three large entryways, with the first facing the party's direction and the other two on the sides of the building.

"It's rather official-looking, don't you think?" Donis asked the others. "Perhaps it was supposed to be some seat of power or government back when the civilization that built this city was alive."

"Either way, it looks like a place worth checking out." Lisbeth decided. "Let's go take a look."

After a fairly short and silent walk, the four entered the official-looking building through the front entrance. As the team began walking down a dark wide corridor into the central part of the building, Lisbeth heard the sound of footsteps coming at her from the left. She turned her head and saw another one of the headless women charging at her with its sword raised. Just as the creature came in striking distance, Donis quickly moved in and blocked its attack with his right-hand sword. A few seconds later, the gold swordsman drew his other blade and struck the monster in the side, taking a good chunk out of its HP.

Donis then began slashing wildly at the creature, quickly bringing its HP down into the yellow zone. Lisbeth and the others stood and watched as Donis hacked away at the headless abomination.

"He doesn't just look like Kirito. He almost fights like him too." Sinon remarked.

"I know. He seems to have the same kind of intensity that Kazuto has when he's fighting an enemy." Leafa agreed.

As the ladies continued to watch the battle, the creature managed to land a blow on Donis and take a chunk off his HP. Lisbeth decided that she could stand by and watch no more.

"Donis! Switch out! I'll finish her off!" Lisbeth told him.

Donis nodded and fell back at the headless woman took another slash at him. Lisbeth charged in and struck the thing in its chest with her gold hammer. After Lisbeth struck the creature three more times, its HP went to zero and its body shattered into blue polygons. A holographic screen appeared before Lisbeth and informed her she had gotten a drop item.

"Way to go, Liz!" Leafa cheered.

"Ah, it's no big deal. Donis softened her up for me." Lisbeth replied. "Looks like I got a drop item out of it though."

"What'd you get?" Sinon asked.

"It looks like the sword the creature was using." The pink-haired blacksmith answered. "From the description, it looks like it's made of some kind of weird metal I've never seen before in the game. I'll have to take a closer look at it when I get back to my shop later."

"It seems that you've already found some treasure on this little expedition." Donis observed.

"Yeah." Lisbeth replied. "By the way, thanks for coming to my rescue before."

"Think nothing of it, my dear." Donis told Lisbeth before kissing the back of her hand, causing her blush deeply.

"We should probably keep going." Sinon suggested.

With that, the team continued further on into the building until they came to its very center. The core of the building not only had three other large doorways that led out to the entrances on the other sides of the building, but also four smaller archways in between the entry points that led into smaller chambers.

"Looks like we've got a lot of ground to cover." Sinon observed.

"Perhaps we could split up to cover more ground." Donis suggested.

"I don't know. That might not be a good idea." Lisbeth replied. "We don't know the layout of this place, and if any of us ran into another hoard of those headless monsters while separated it could get real messy."

"But didn't Donis say before that the encounter rate for those things is lower here in the city?" Leafa pointed out.

"True. Of course that may not be true in some of the individual buildings like this." Donis replied. "Considering the amount of rare items that might be hidden here, it would hardly be surprising if there were more creatures set in place to guard them."

"We wouldn't have to split up completely. If we just divided into two groups, we should be okay." Sinon suggested.

"Okay. We'll split into two teams." Lisbeth decided. "Leafa, you go with Donis while I stick with Sinon. Let's say we meet back in this spot in half an hour."

"We'll IM you guys if we run into any trouble." Leafa replied.

"We'll do the same." Sinon responded.

* * *

After the team had split up, Sinon and Lisbeth had ended up in a large circular chamber that turned out to be some sort of library. The two of them began looking through the various items on the shelves. Much of the library's contents were moldy old books written in an ancient language that neither of them could read. As Sinon continued to scan the shelves, her eye fell on one large grey book with gold writing on the spine to show the book's title, the _Necronomicon_. Sinon instantly recognized the book as a sort of forbidden tome that showed up in many stories the author, H.P. Lovecraft.

Finding that the book was a manipulable object, Sinon pulled it off the shelf to take a look. Suddenly a holographic screen appeared before the fairy archer asking her if she wanted to add the item to her inventory. With only a moment's hesitation, Sinon pressed the Yes button and the book turned into blue pixels before vanishing.

"You finding anything good?" Lisbeth asked from the other side of the room, not taking her eyes away from the shelves.

"I found one interesting item." Sinon answered. "What about you?"

"Mostly I'm finding these weird statues that don't seem to have any kind of special effect." Lisbeth answered.

With that, the pink-haired blacksmith came upon a small statue made of a peculiar black metal sitting in a large empty space on one of the shelves. The statue depicted a bizarre humanoid creature with an octopus-like head and a pair of bat-like wings on its back. Finding that the statue was manipulable, Lisbeth got a screen asking her if she wanted to add the statue to her inventory. After selecting the yes command, the statue turned into blue pixels and vanished in Lisbeth's hands.

"There, I just found another one." Lisbeth informed Sinon. "I've got like ten of these in my inventory now. According to their descriptions, the statues are all of some kind of weird gods. They're also all made of some kind of unidentified metal, but I might be able to melt them down to make armor and weapons."

"Well if you're done collecting weird art, how 'bout we move onto another room?" Sinon suggested. "I don't think there's too much more we can find in here."

"Fine with me." Lisbeth agreed.

Just as the two were leaving, Lisbeth spied another item on one of the shelves. It was an odd asymmetrical box made of a yellowish metal. After finding that she was able to manipulate the box, Lisbeth picked it up and opened it. Inside was a peculiar blackish crystalline object that was shaped almost like an egg but with several crystalline facets, and it was held in place by a metal band around the middle held up by seven thin metal bands attached to the bottom of the box. Lisbeth's eyes soon became transfixed on the crystal, which seemed to be giving off an odd a very feint red light. The blacksmith thought that she could almost see pictures of some kind inside the crystal.

"Hey! You coming?" Sinon asked from the doorway, shaking Lisbeth from the trance she had seemingly fallen into.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Just a sec." Lisbeth replied.

Lisbeth finally noticed the screen in front of her asking if she wanted to add the item to his inventory. After she quickly pressed Yes, Lisbeth rejoined Sinon and they moved off onto another chamber.

* * *

The passageway that Leafa and Donis had chosen took them down into what appeared to be a vast dark set of catacombs. They had been wandering around the dark dungeon for several minutes and had not found any significant items. The only thing that they had found was silence.

"How long have we been down here?" Leafa finally asked as she took another look around while they walked.

"About twenty-five minutes, give or take a second or two." Donis answered. "Perhaps we should go back up and wait for Lisbeth and Sinon to return."

"Sounds like a good idea to me." Leafa agreed. "You know… I still can't get over how much you look like my brother."

"Is the resemblance really that strong?" Donis asked.

"He has dark hair and wears all black, but other than that you could be twins." Leafa answered. "He even uses two swords just like you do."

"That certainly is a strange coincidence." Donis admitted.

"I guess I can see how you might look like my brother if you had set your appearance features to random when you created your character, but why do you use two swords?" Leafa asked.

"It merely seemed like an effective way to eliminate various monsters in a short time." Donis answered. "I assume your brother fights that way for the same reason."

"Actually, his reason for using two swords is a little more complicated." Leafa told him.

Suddenly the two of them heard a disgusting squishing sound quickly coming their way. Leafa turned around, and looming before her was a horrid black blob that stood at about eight feet tall. Parts of the entity's body seemed to bubble like a soapy film on the surface of water. Every now and then one of the bubbles would pop with the sound of a bursting bladder, and two or three more would take its place.

"What is that thing?" Leafa asked.

"I'm afraid I have no idea!" Donis answered as he drew both his swords.

As the blob creature slowly advanced on the two, Leafa decided to charge the thing. Only a second or two after Leafa drew her sword, the blob shot forth a tentacle from its body that seemed to form into a flexible sword blade that cut into Leafa's weapon and knocked it out of her hand. Leafa quickly stopped her charge as her sword split into two pieces and shattered into blue polygons before the pieces could his the ground. The thing then stabbed Leafa two times before retracting its tentacle back into its body. Leafa fell to the ground and landed on her rear has her HP dropped into the near yellow.

Donis charged at the amorphous blob and slashed it several times with his two golden swords. The entity's HP only went down by a slight amount.

"This creature seems to be more formidable than the headless creatures we've encountered so far." Donis observed. "You better contact the others!"

"Right!" Leafa replied as she quickly composed a message to Lisbeth. "In the meantime, I'll heal you as much as I can while you fight the thing!"

Donis nodded and continued is attack on the creature. The rapid strikes from the gold swordsman's two blades were slowly having an effect on the creature's HP, but it was clear that it was going to be a long battle. At the same time, the blobs tentacle attacks were doing some serious damage to Donis. Leafa cast spells to reverse the damage almost as quickly as it was inflicted, but her MP was quickly starting to run out. It was clear the creature was going to outlast them both unless something changed soon. By the time Donis had finally gotten the creature's HP down to half, two arrows flew through the air and struck the creature where it's head would've been if it had one. Leafa and Donis both looked back and breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Lisbeth and Sinon.

"What the hell is that thing?" Lisbeth asked.

"It's not an ordinary slime, that's for sure." Leafa answered. "It broke my sword earlier."

The arrows that had struck the blob were sucked inside and broke into blue polygons before being completely absorbed. At the same time though, the creature's HP took another slight dip.

"This thing's not going down easily." Sinon observed. "I'm going to run out of arrows at this point."

"Let me take a crack at it!" Lisbeth told them.

Donis fell back as Lisbeth charged at the blob. As soon as she got in range, the pink-haired blacksmith's hammer struck the entity's front. The entire blob seemed to ripple upon being hit, but its HP only fell by a small amount. As soon as its body stopped rippling, the blob retaliated by striking Lisbeth with one of its sharpened tendrils, taking a large chunk of her HP. Lisbeth fell back and allowed Donis to strike it a few more times.

"Dang! Even Mjolnir doesn't seem to be enough to take this thing down." Lisbeth observed.

"It looked like it froze the thing for a few seconds though." Sinon noted as Donis fell back. "Maybe we can use that to our advantage."

"That was my thinking exactly!" Donis agreed. "Liz, as soon as you land a blow to the creature, I'll move in to attack it before it can unfreeze. But we'll have to be very quick about it."

"Right!" Lisbeth replied, as she stood ready to attack.

Once Leafa finished using another healing spell on both Donis and Lisbeth, Lisbeth charged in for another attack. The pink-haired blacksmith's hammer struck the blob and caused its body to ripple again. Before the creature could stop rippling, Lisbeth fell back and Donis moved in and slashed the thing several more times with his two blades. As soon as the rippling stopped, Donis fell back and Lisbeth moved in for another attack. They repeated this pattern seven more times until the thing's HP had fallen into the red zone. Lisbeth and Donis had taken a few more hits since beginning their strategy, but they were still in fairly good shape to fight. Just as the creature launched one of its tendrils at them, Sinon fired another arrow that struck the blob in what could be considered its chest.

Upon being hit, the blob's HP gauge dropped to zero and its body shattered into blue polygons. Leafa and the others all breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was brutal!" Lisbeth declared.

"Perhaps we should leave the city of K'n-yan for now and come back another time." Donis suggested.

"Sounds good to me." Sinon agreed. "It's gotten pretty late, anyway."

Within another half hour, the team had made it out of K'n-yan and back to the top of the mound without encountering other monsters. Leafa brought up her screens to check the time and saw that it was 10:32.

"Wow! It really has gotten pretty late." Leafa told the others.

"Well ladies, it truly was a privilege working with you all this evening." Donis told them. "We should do this again very soon."

"Yeah. Though we should probably get some stronger weapons before we try going back down there again." Leafa pointed out. "I know I'll need a new sword before we go back."

"Don't worry. I'll forge you a new one tomorrow afternoon." Lisbeth assured her. "I'll also see if I can forge anything from all those metal items I got down there to see if I can make some stronger weapons from them."

"How long do you think that could take?" Sinon asked.

"It's hard to say since I've never seen this kind of metal before, but let's say about three days to be safe." Lisbeth answered.

"In that case, how about we all meet back here in three day's time?" Donis suggested.

"Sounds good." Leafa agreed.

"Very well then. I will see you all then." Donis replied. "In the meantime, I must depart to take care of one small matter before retiring for the night."

"Hey Donis. Feel free to stop by my shop in the next few days." Lisbeth suggested.

"I will endeavor to do so." Donis told her. "Until then ladies, good evening."

With that, Donis flew off from the mound. Leafa and the others watched him go until he was barely a speck in the night sky.

"It really was lucky finding a guy like that on our way down there." Lisbeth remarked.

"Yeah. It really is weird the way he looks like Kirito though." Sinon pointed out.

"He probably set the appearance of his avatar to random when he made it and somehow got that." Leafa assumed.

"Pretty weird coincidence if you ask me." Lisbeth replied. "Still, he seems like an awesome guy."

"Well, we should probably log out for the night." Sinon decided.

"Right. I'll contact you when your new sword's ready, Leafa." Lisbeth told her.

"I'll be waiting." Leafa replied.

With that, Lisbeth and Sinon logged out, vanishing before Leafa's eyes with a blue flashed. Leafa logged out as well and was pulled through a tunnel of light.

* * *

Suguha opened her eyes to see the familiar ceiling of her bedroom. The dark-haired girl sat up and stretched as she put her virtual headset on her nightstand. Soon after, she got up and prepared to get ready for bed. As Suguha undressed, her mind went back to Donis. She couldn't help but wonder about the kind of person he was in real life. It was true that he somehow had Kirito's face, but that was only in ALO. Suguha knew that Donis had to have a face of his own in the real world. The thought that Donis might also have a completely different personality in the real world also crossed Suguha's mind.

Despite these facts though, Suguha couldn't help but be drawn to Donis. She didn't know if it was simply because he looked like Kirito in the game, or if it was something more. Either way, Suguha found that she was greatly looking forward to the time when she would see him again.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I apologize if this story is taking a little too long to set up. Rest assured, things will start to get a bit more interesting in the next chapter.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	3. Strange Metal

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online (or the works of H.P. Lovecraft).

* * *

Chapter 3: Strange Metal

Suguha was awakened by the ever-unpleasant sound of her alarm clock. Though she knew she had to get up, Suguha found that she wanted at least another hour of sleep. It seemed that she was paying the price for staying up late to explore the realm of K'n-yan in ALO. After managing to pull herself out of bed to start another day, Suguha got dressed for school and headed downstairs. When she arrived in the kitchen, Suguha saw that her brother, Kazuto was already sitting at the table eating breakfast. For a moment as Suguha greeted her brother, she couldn't help but think she was looking at Donis. The resemblance between him and Kazuto really was uncanny.

"You okay Sugu?" Kazuto asked, noticing the odd look she was giving him.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm good." Suguha assured him before sitting down at the table. "I'm just a little tired from staying up a little too late last night."

"Well I know you weren't staying up late to do homework, so you must've been in ALO." Kazuto deduced.

"Yeah. I went to go check out that new underground dungeon with Liz and Sinon." Suguha replied. "You know, the one that appeared in imp territory a little while ago."

"Oh yeah. I've heard that place is pretty tough." Kazuto recalled. "A lot of the players who've tried going in to explore it have ended up getting pretty thrashed. Some are even starting to say that the place is just as difficult as one of the upper levels of New Aincrad. How'd you guys do in there?"

"Pretty well, actually." Suguha answered. "We met and teamed up with this player called Donis. He's actually pretty strong. We probably wouldn't have made it very far into the place if it wasn't for his help."

"What's this Donis guy like?" Kazuto asked.

It was here that Suguha hesitated. She wasn't sure if it would be a good idea to tell her brother that Donis was his in-game twin. In fact there was much about Donis that Suguha found she didn't want to share. One of the last things Suguha wanted to deal with was Kazuto overreacting and doing the whole overprotective big brother routine, which she was pretty she would happen.

"Um… he's actually kinda like you." Suguha finally answered. "In fact, he actually uses two swords in battle just like you do most of the time."

"I think I'd be interested in meeting this new friend of yours sometime." Kazuto replied.

"Yeah…" Suguha responded; thinking at that moment that such a meeting would be a very bad idea. "Say, here's kind of a strange and totally unrelated question. Let's say someone made a new avatar for a game and set their appearance to random. What do you think the chances are of that person's avatar looking exactly like someone else's?"

"Hmm… well, I suppose something like that's possible. Seems like it would be very unlikely though." Kazuto answered. "Why do you ask, anyway?"

"Oh, no reason." Suguha replied with a somewhat nervous smile. "It was just some random thing Sinon thought about as we were making our way into the dungeon last night. So, um… how are things going with getting ready to raid the boss room of Floor 75 in New Aincrad?"

"The training's coming a long pretty well, but it's going to be a rough battle no matter how much we prepare for it." Kazuto answered. "Some scouting parties have already tried raiding the room to get information on the boss, and every one of them has been wiped out in seconds. It's probably going to take every top player in ALO to clear that floor. My best guess is that the raid won't be for a couple weeks at least."

"I'm sure you and Asuna will be able to take that boss down." Suguha told him. "I'm just sorry I won't be there to help you out."

"It's okay. I know you've been kinda busy lately." Kazuto replied. "Besides, it seems like you've got a dungeon of your own to explore now."

"I guess so." Suguha responded. "We'll we should probably be getting to school here pretty soon."

With that, the two of them quickly finished eating their breakfast and went their separate ways for school. As Suguha headed out, she wondered if hiding the little detail of what Donis looked like from Kazuto. After all, with the way things were it seemed like Kazuto and Donis would meet one another eventually. It would make things awkward if they met and Kazuto asked her why she didn't tell him about the rather large detail about Donis's avatar. In the end though, Suguha decided to keep Donis's appearance a secret for at least a little while.

* * *

As soon as school had let out and she had gotten home, Lisbeth had logged back into ALO and returned to her shop to begin working with the strange metal objects she had collected down in K'n-yan. With the exception of the peculiar metal box that contained the strange geometric crystal, all of the metal objects she had collected were made of a material called tok'l-metal. This included the sword Lisbeth had obtained when she defeated the headless woman that had attacked her when she and the others had entered the library-like building they explored. The first thing that Lisbeth did with most of the various statues and seemingly useless metal trinkets she had collected into metal ingots. This allowed her to use the metal to make armor and weapons.

Once the items had been converted into ingots, Lisbeth was able to see a description of the metal when examining them. From what the blacksmith found out, the tok'l-metal was mined from a place called Yuggoth and had unknown properties. Lisbeth wondered if the metal and the place it was mined from had any connection to the works of H.P. Lovecraft. It made sense to her that they might, as K'n-yan itself was based on one of the horror writer's stories. Lisbeth made a mental note to ask Sinon if she knew anything about Yuggoth and the tok'l-metal later, as she seemed to be more familiar with Lovecraft's work than any of them.

Lisbeth's first experiment with the tok'l-metal was to make a new mace and shield for her personal use. The weight of both items seemed to be practically non-existent, as if they were pieces of metal without actual substance. Yet at the same time, both objects seemed to be extremely dense. Lisbeth was very interested to see how her new weapons would perform in battle the next time they ventured into K'n-yan. She doubted that the new mace would be more powerful than Mjolnir, but she had the feeling that the armor and weapons she could forge from the tok'l-metal could give them on their next trip.

Noticing that it was almost 5:00, Lisbeth decided to take a break from her work for a few minutes and have some tea. Virtual tea wasn't exactly the same thing as real tea, but it tasted just as good. As Lisbeth drank her tea at the counter of her shop, her thoughts suddenly went back to Donis. Whether or not it was simply because Donis looked so much like Kirito in the game, the pink-haired blacksmith couldn't deny that she felt a strong attraction to him. Having Kirito's face helped of course, yet the gold swordsman also had a certain kind of charm that Kirito didn't possess.

Lisbeth thought back to how she and Donis fought so well together down in K'n-yan. They seemed to make the perfect team when they fought against that black blob. Lisbeth wondered if perhaps that teamwork could maybe blossom into something more. That seemed to be the case with Kirito and her friend Asuna back in the days of SAO. In that death game, Kirito and Asuna were both top players who fought on the frontlines. With all the life and death battles those two had fought together back then, it was only natural that a very close bond would form between them. Lisbeth on the other hand had only been a supporting player, working on the sidelines and forging weapons for the players who were actually strong enough for the frontlines. It was little wonder to Lisbeth that Asuna had snatched Kirito away from her.

Realizing that she was starting to feel sorry for herself, Lisbeth quickly finished her tea and went back to work. The next order of business was to work on a new katana for Leafa, and Lisbeth decided that she would make that sword one of her experiments with the tok'l-metal. Taking the sword she had gotten from the headless woman and a piece of rare metal known for having mystical qualities when mixed with another metal, Lisbeth forged a single metal ingot. Using that ingot, the blacksmith forged a new katana. The end result of the forging was rather unexpected.

The blade of the newly forged sword was black with small pine-green flecks. The mace and shield Lisbeth had forged for her personal use were also black, but lacked any additional coloration. The new sword's also somehow seemed to give of a very slight vibration. Lisbeth worried that perhaps mixing the two metals together had produced a weapon that was unstable, not unlike how mixing certain chemicals can produce a very volatile explosion. After a few more moments of examination though, the pink-haired blacksmith concluded that the sword was probably safe and put the finishing touches on it. As Lisbeth put the finished sword aside to give to Leafa at a later time, she heard the door to her shop open.

Lisbeth turned her head and saw that it was Donis who had walked in. The gold swordsman waved to her in greeting with a charming smile on his face.

"So this is the shop of the great Lisbeth the blacksmith." Donis spoke as he walked down the stairs. "It's rather quaint, if you don't mind me saying so."

"I know I invited you to come by my shop, but I wasn't expecting you to come by so soon." Lisbeth told him, unable to hide the large smile on her face.

"Well I had little else to do this afternoon, so I thought I'd go ahead and take you up on your invitation." Donis replied. "I do hope I'm not interrupting anything important."

"No. In fact you kind of made my day." Lisbeth admitted.

"So what have you been working on?" Donis asked. "Forging any new weapons for use on our next expedition into K'n-yan?"

"More or less." Lisbeth confirmed. "More than anything though, I've been experimenting with forging stuff from all those weird metal items from K'n-yan."

"Any success?" Donis asked.

"I'm not really sure yet, to be honest." Lisbeth answered, picking up Leafa's new sword to show him an example. "I forged this for Leafa from an alloy I made using the metal from the K'n-yan stuff I found and another rare metal that produces different kinds of elemental magic depending on the other metal it's mixed with. I'm kind of afraid that this sword might be a bad mix; like it might explode the second Leafa tries to use it. Of course we won't know anything for sure until she tries it out in battle."

"I suppose there is a lot of trial and error involved when working with a new material." Donis observed. He then glanced over at another one of the worktables and noticed the odd box containing the crystal. "What's that item over there?"

Lisbeth looked at what Donis was pointing at as she put down the sword. "Oh, that's something else I found in K'n-yan last night. I'm not really sure what it is, but I don't think I can forge any new weapons from it."

"Why did you take it with you then?" Donis asked.

"I sort of took it by accident, to be honest." Lisbeth admitted. "When Sinon and I were leaving to go meet back up with you and Leafa, I ran across whatever this thing is and sort of took it with me without thinking. It has kind of a hypnotic effect."

"May I see it?" Donis requested.

"Sure." Lisbeth agreed before picking the box up off the table and taking it back over.

The blacksmith set the metal box back down on the table that was in front of her and Donis and opened it up. Lisbeth's eyes quickly became transfixed on the crystal again as they had done last night. In the peculiar light the crystal seemed to be giving off, Lisbeth thought she could almost see pictures of some kind within it. They were images of faraway lands that were wondrous and terrifying at the same time. The kind of landscapes that looked as though they were pulled from the wildest dreams and most horrifying nightmares.

Donis seemed to be transfixed on the crystal as well, though not as strongly as Lisbeth was. He glanced over at the blacksmith and put his arm around her waist. Soon after, he began lightly kissing the side of Lisbeth's neck. Lisbeth seemed only half aware of what was going on, but responded with soft moans of pleasure all the same. After another moment, Donis took Lisbeth's chin gently and turned her face towards him. Lisbeth's eyes had become locked with Donis's just as they had been locked on the crystal a second before. Before either of them knew it, they had become locked in a very passionate kiss.

As their mouths opened to allow their tongues to explore each other, Donis turned Lisbeth and backed her against the worktable. After an uncertain amount of time, the two of them were forced to break apart for air. Donis returned to kissing Lisbeth's neck more passionately than before. Lisbeth let out a deep moan in response and began running her fingers through Donis's blonde hair. Lisbeth's heart was pounding as though it might burst out of her chest, and her whole body felt as if it was on fire. As things got more heated though, a bell went off in Lisbeth's mind and the part of her brain in charge of rational thought clicked back on. She pushed Donis away and quickly closed the box with the crystal without looking at it.

"I… I'm terribly sorry." Donis told her. "I have no idea what came over me just now."

"Neither do I." Lisbeth replied, her face heavily flushed. "That… that got a little intense there."

Suddenly the door to the shop opened, causing them both to jump. Lisbeth and Donis looked and saw that it was Leafa.

"Oh! Hi Donis." Leafa greeted as she came down the steps. "I wasn't expecting you here."

"Hello Leafa." Donis nervously responded. "I, um… I had just come by to say hello to Lisbeth and see her shop. Well, uh… I'm afraid I must be off. I just remembered another somewhat urgent matter I need to attend to. Leafa, I apologize for having to leave you so soon."

"Don't worry about it. Go do what you need to do." Leafa told him.

With that, Donis said his goodbyes to Lisbeth and left the shop at a fast pace. Lisbeth breathed a little sigh as soon as he was gone.

"So what were you two talking about when I came in?" Leafa asked.

"Nothing! Nothing at all." Lisbeth answered in a higher pitch than intended.

"Is something wrong?" Leafa asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course not. Why would anything be wrong?" Lisbeth answered with a nervous laugh. "Oh! I just finished a new sword for you. That is why you came down here, right?"

"Great! I was hoping it'd be done by now." Leafa replied.

"This sword is kind of an experiment using that weird metal from K'n-yan." Lisbeth informed the blonde fairy as she handed her the black and green blade. "To be honest, I'm not really sure if it's any good."

"I'll go try it out." Leafa replied as she took the blade. "So, are you going to get back to work?"

"Uh, actually I have this thing that I need to take care of for school." Lisbeth lied as an excuse to get out of there. "I'll get back to it tomorrow though. By the time I'm done, we'll be ready to take on K'n-yan again."

"Great. Well in that case, I'll see you later." Leafa replied. "I'll let you know how the new sword works out."

With that, Leafa waved goodbye and left shop. Lisbeth breathed a sigh of relief as soon as the blonde was gone and logged out of the game as fast as she could.

* * *

Rika opened her eyes after passing through the tunnel of light to look at the ceiling of her bedroom, still very much turned on by what she and Donis had been doing a few moments earlier. She could still feel the gold swordsman's hot breath on her neck. Rika decided that a very cold shower was in order and got up to undress. As she removed her shirt, Rika couldn't help but wonder if what she had just been feeling in the game was real. It wasn't the sensations she was thinking of but the feelings behind them. Was what had just happened merely because Donis looked like Kirito, or was there something else that drove her to almost get into the gold swordsman's pants. The only thing Rika knew for sure was that she had probably almost gotten in over her head.

* * *

Please review and let me know what you think.


	4. Playing With Fire

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online (or the works of H.P. Lovecraft).

* * *

Chapter 4: Playing With Fire

Rika sat alone in the cafeteria with a full tray of food still in front of her. She had been far too preoccupied to pay attention to her lunch. No matter how hard Rika tried, her mind kept going back to her steamy encounter with Donis the previous afternoon. The thing that truly preoccupied Rika the most about the encounter was how she really felt about Donis. Were her feelings for the Kirito lookalike simple lust, or were they something more? She had been turning that question in her mind over and over again since the night before and wasn't coming up with a clear answer. The only thing Rika had truly accomplished was getting all hot and bothered.

"Mind if I joined you?" a familiar voice asked, snapping Rika from her thoughts.

Rika looked, and standing before her with a lunch tray in her hands was a young woman with long orange-brown hair. This of course was one of Rika's closest friends, Asuna Yuki.

"Oh. Go right ahead." Rika replied. "I'm a little surprised you're not having lunch with Kirito."

"He has something that he wanted to take care of during the lunch period." Asuna explained as she sat down. "Is everything okay with you Rika? You seemed a little spaced out when I saw you over here."

"I'm good." Rika assured her. "…Hey Asuna, mind if I ask you something personal?"

"I don't see why not." Asuna replied. "What is it?"

"Have you and Kirito ever had sex in-game?" Rika asked.

Asuna nearly choked on the milk she was trying to drink the moment Rika asked her question. Rika couldn't help but smirk a little at Asuna's reaction. Though Asuna was one of the strongest players in the games of SAO and ALO, she was also very bashful when it came to things like sex. There were more than a few times when Rika enjoyed teasing her on the subject. Even so, Rika didn't have to many other people she could talk to when it came to her current predicament.

"Wh-wh-wh-why on earth are you asking me something about that?" a very flustered Asuna asked.

"Well… I recently met this guy in ALO." Rika admitted with some hesitation. "And even though we only just met, I find that I'm really interested in him. So I was just wondering… how real sex with someone in a virtual would feel. Assuming things even got that far, that is."

"Oh…" Asuna responded, finally calming down. "To be honest, I've never been able to tell the difference between the real and virtual worlds when it comes to sensation. I know in my head that things in a world like ALO, even the avatars that act as our bodies, are nothing more than pieces of code. But despite that, things in the virtual world still feel just as real as the things in this world do. I think it's the same for Kirito."

"I guess it's kind of the same for me too." Rika admitted. "Even though I know that world is just a game, it still feels like a real place to me."

"But the thing is, Rika," Asuna continued, putting her hand on the brown-haired girl's, "I pretty much knew what I was getting into with Kirito. I knew what he actually looked like thanks to SAO making our avatars look like our real selves, and during those few years as we fought together I got to know who he really was. My love for him was and is real, because I fell in love with the real person, not with some character in an online game. What I'm saying Rika, is that this person you're interested in may not be the person you think he is. He may be someone completely different in real life."

"I get what you're saying, Asuna." Rika assured her. "I'll be careful."

"Okay." Asuna replied. "So what's person you're interested in like?"

"Well…" Rika hesitantly began. She immediately decided to hold back the fact that Donis looked just like Kirito. "I guess he's a bit like Kirito. Seems you and I are interested in the same type of guy, huh?"

"I guess so." Asuna replied. "Just be careful."

"Relax, Asuna. I won't do anything crazy." Rika assured her.

With that, Rika and Asuna continued their lunch mostly in silence. While their conversation hadn't actually clarified anything for Rika, it did remind her of one important fact. Donis was most likely someone completely different in the real world, someone with his own face and his own voice. While it was true that the gold swordsman had his own distinct personality from Kirito, Rika couldn't be sure if even that personality was the real deal. Players of VRMMOs were often known to take on a completely different persona while playing. A person who was gentle and timid in the real world could easily become ruthless and bold in the setting of an online game. Rika realized that getting too close to Donis too fast would basically be playing with fire.

* * *

The evening of the second raid into K'n-yan arrived, and Lisbeth was waiting in her shop for Leafa and the others to show up. They had all previously agreed to meet at the shop before returning to the mound to pick up the new equipment that Lisbeth had forged. Lisbeth had already equipped herself with the new mace and shield she had created from the tok'l-metal, as well as a new pieces of black chest and shoulder armor she forged from an alloy made from the strange metal and another rare metal in ALO known for being super durable. As Lisbeth waited for the others, she found that she was super nervous about seeing Donis again. They had left things in a very awkward place at the end of their last meeting.

Lisbeth almost jumped when she heard the door to her shop open. She turned and breathed a small sigh of relief when she saw that it was only Leafa and Sinon.

"Sorry we're a little late." Leafa told Lisbeth as she and Sinon headed down the stairs.

"Is that armor you're wearing forged from that weird metal you found down in K'n-yan?" Sinon asked.

"Yep. And I made some armor for you and Leafa too." Lisbeth answered.

Within a few moments, Lisbeth transferred the new equipment to the others. Sinon ended up with a piece of black chest armor like the one she had been previously wearing. Leafa meanwhile had gained a piece of black chest armor with gold trim not unlike the white piece of armor she normally wore.

"Sorry I didn't make you any new weapons." Lisbeth told them. "I haven't been able to make any new equipment for Donis either."

"It's okay. The new sword you made for me works just fine." Leafa assured her.

"Really? It hasn't been acting… I don't know, weird or anything?" Lisbeth asked.

"Well, sometimes the blade seems to glow when I swing it, but it still cuts really well." The blonde fairy answered.

The door to the shop opened again, and Donis entered. Lisbeth's heart began to beat a little faster upon seeing the Kirito lookalike. She hoped very much that Sinon and Leafa wouldn't pick up on the awkwardness between them.

"Um, hello all." Donis greeted with a somewhat nervous expression. "Many apologies for being late."

"It's okay. We just got here too." Sinon assured him.

"Lisbeth just gave us some new armor she forged from that weird metal from K'n-yan." Leafa informed him.

"I'm sorry Donis, but I, uh… I haven't been able to make anything for you." Lisbeth told him. "I guess time just kind of got away from me. Plus I'm starting to run a bit low on material. You'll have to wait until I can scrounge up some more during this raid."

"It's quite alright. My current equipment will serve me just fine." Donis assured her. "Now then, shall we be going?"

"We probably should." Sinon agreed. "If the encounter rate for those headless girls picks up at night, we should probably get in there before it gets dark."

"Do we want to explore more of that building we were in last time?" Leafa asked.

"Sounds like a good idea to me." Lisbeth responded. "I might be able to find some more of that metal down there."

"We never did get a chance to fully explore that basement before that blob creature attacked us." Donis pointed out. "We may be able to find some rare items down there."

"But what if we run into one of those blobs again?" Leafa asked.

"If we did, it'd be a good chance to test how well some of our new equipment works." Lisbeth pointed out. "I say we go for it."

With that, the team headed off to the mound and arrived at the mound only a few minutes before sunset. As they traveled down through the opening corridor, they encountered none of the headless women that usually stalked the dungeon. The absence of the creatures seemed to track with the team's theory that the things were more active at night. The entire trip down into the underground city had been traveled largely in silence, and that silence had been getting to Lisbeth a little bit. She knew that she had to talk with Donis about what had happened between them, but such a task was impossible with Sinon and Leafa around.

The party finally arrived at the building they had searched during their last raid and immediately headed down into the vast dark basement below. Lisbeth began scanning the ground for any metal items. The search was taking her mind off of her current dilemma with Donis. The pink-haired blacksmith ended up finding quite a few metal objects as they traveled through the basement catacombs. The items were either pieces of discarded armor or more of the strange statuary objects of weird gods like most of the items she had found on the level above. Lisbeth also ended up finding some pieces of pure tok'l-metal ore.

"It's kind of creepy how quiet it is down here." Leafa remarked as she looked around.

"It should be dark out by now." Sinon informed them. "I bet we'll probably start seeing more monsters by now."

As if on cue, the party heard the sound of a creature approaching them from the darkness and froze. Rather than the thing being one of the headless women though, it was another one of the black blob creatures.

"Damn! And here I was kinda hoping the encounter rate for those blob things was rare." Lisbeth spoke.

"Shall we try the same strategy as before?" Donis asked.

"It's not like we've got anything better." Lisbeth pointed out. "Sinon! Cover me! I'm going in!"

The fairy archer nodded and took aim at the creature with her bow. As Sinon fired an arrow, Lisbeth charged in with her mace raised. Sinon's arrow struck the blob and took a little bit off of its HP. In the next instant though just as Lisbeth had gotten in range, the blob launched a sharpened tendril at the blacksmith and struck her in the chest. Lisbeth was knocked back, but her HP had only taken a slight drop.

"Are you okay, Liz?" Donis asked.

"Yeah, I'm good." Lisbeth assured him as she stood back up. "Looks like this new armor is just what we need down here."

"Liz! Donis! I wanna try something against this thing!" Leafa requested.

"Whatever it is, go for it!" Lisbeth told her.

Leafa drew her sword as Sinon shot the creature with another arrow. As the blonde fairy raised her sword, the blade began to glow with a peculiar green aura. Leafa cried out as she swung her sword and launched a blast of purple and green energy at the blob. The energy projectile struck the blob and changed into a crackling green sphere of light around it. The blob monster was continuously shocked by bolts of energy inside the sphere and its HP started dropping like a rock. In seconds the thing's HP fell to zero and its body swelled up like a balloon before shattering into blue polygons. Leafa and the others stood completely stunned.

"What… what the hell just happened?" Lisbeth asked.

"Did you know that was going to happen?" Sinon asked Leafa.

"I-I wasn't sure, really." Leafa answered. "I had the feeling that the sword could produce a magical attack of some kind from the way I swung it, but I didn't know it would be that powerful."

"It seems your earlier concerns about the sword being unstable weren't entirely misplaced." Donis told Lisbeth.

"No kidding." Lisbeth replied. "Well, shall we go back up top? I think I've collected enough metal to use for weapons for now."

"We've almost mapped all of this basement except for that chamber up ahead." Sinon reported. "I don't know about you guys, but I'd like to see what's in there before we leave."

"We may as well finish what we started." Donis agreed.

"Okay, we'll check out that room and call it a night." Lisbeth decided.

With that, the team continued onward and came upon a massive entryway. The four of them went through the archway and found that they had entered a large circular chamber with stadium seating all around them. It seemed to Lisbeth and the others that they had entered some kind of arena. Suddenly lines of blue light began to glow on the ground beneath them and a pair of large stone doors slammed shut behind them. Large black torches that were around the wall of the stadium began to light up with ghostly blue flames.

Suddenly standing before the four was a muscular male giant that stood at a height of about twenty feet. Its skin was chalk-white, and in place of a head it had a billowing blue flame. A black armored skirt hung from around the creature's waist, and in its right hand it wielded a large black metal club covered in spikes. Three HP gauges appeared in the air next to the creature.

"Oh crap! We just walked into a boss room!" Lisbeth realized.

"There's no helping it now!" Donis told them as he prepared to draw his two swords. "The only thing we can do now is fight!"

The headless giant quickly stepped forward and stomped the ground hard with his right foot, sending a tremor through the earth that nearly knocked the four fairies off their feet. Before Lisbeth and the others could regain their balance, the giant swung his spiked club at them and knocked them to the ground. The attack had taken a large chunk of HP off of each of them.

"Okay, coming into this room was probably a bad idea." Sinon admitted as they got back up.

"Let's see how my new sword does against this thing!" Leafa decided as she drew her weapon.

With one swing, Leafa sent a blast of energy from the blade at the headless giant. The attack hit the creature in the chest and a ball of crackling energy formed around its upper body just like when Leafa had attacked the blob. The giant's first HP gauge dropped rapidly until the sphere exploded with a flash of light. When the light faded the giant was still standing, but it lost over a quarter of the HP on its first gauge. Lisbeth then charged in with her mace raised and went for the giant's right leg. The head of the mace glowed with a crackling green light as Lisbeth swung her weapon into the giant's leg. The attack knocked another good-sized chunk of HP off the giant's first gauge, bringing it into the yellow zone.

"Looks like Liz and Leafa's new weapons are our best chance at beating this thing." Sinon observed.

"Then they shall be our key to victory!" Donis decided. He then suddenly noticed the giant starting to raise its leg. "Everyone! Jump back now!"

The entire team jumped backwards into the air just as the giant stomped the ground and sent forth another tremor. The four fell back again as the creature swung its spiked club. As the giant's attack ended, the team gathered back together and Donis used a healing spell on the girls.

"Guess we've figured out that thing's attack pattern." Sinon observed. "It stomps the ground to try and knock us off our feet, then it uses that club. After that though, it seems like it need to rest for about twenty or thirty seconds."

"It's a simple enough pattern, but lethal thanks to that beast's brute strength." Donis noted. "Fortunately I have a plan that I think we'll work. Lisbeth, you and Leafa will focus on attacking this boss, as your weapons seem to do the most damage to it. I'll focus on healing you as best I can. Meanwhile Sinon, you'll focus on doing as much damage as you can with your arrows."

"Sounds like a good plan to me." Lisbeth declared. "Let's do this!"

With that, Sinon quickly went up into the arena stands to get a good vantage point for shooting the giant. The giant raised his foot again and brought it back down to stomp the earth. Lisbeth and the others jumped to avoid being knocked down by the resulting quake, and then stayed back to avoid the swing of the giant's club. With the end of the attack, Leafa swung her sword again and sent forth another energy blast. As the giant was shocked by another sphere or energy that formed around its upper body, Lisbeth charged in and struck the creature with her mace. Both attacks managed to take a large chunk off of the giant's first HP gauge. The creature recovered and attempted to stomp the ground again, but once again Lisbeth and the others managed to avoid getting knocked down by jumping back.

After the giant took another swing with its club, Sinon fired two arrows at it. The creature attempted to shield itself using its left arm, but the projectiles struck the forearm and did some slight damage to its HP. Leafa and Lisbeth then launched another attack, bringing the giant's first HP gauge into the red. Soon after, the two attackers avoided another tremor from the giant's foot but ended up getting hit by its club. Donis used a healing spell on Lisbeth and Leafa while Sinon fired a few more arrows at the giant, finally bringing its first HP gauge to zero.

The battle continued like this for several minutes, with Leafa and Lisbeth occasionally taking damage. When the giant's final HP gauge at last went into the red zone, the flame that burned at the top of its neck stump suddenly turned a deep crimson. Its spiked club began to burn crimson as well and it suddenly used it to repeatedly strike the ground as well. Lisbeth and Leafa managed to avoid each strike, but the impacts from the club were sending small tremors into the ground.

"Its attack pattern just got way worse!" Leafa observed. "If we don't finish it soon, we're toast!"

"Then it's time to take this thing down!" Lisbeth declared before charging at the giant head on.

Just as Lisbeth got in range and was about to strike the headless titan with her mace, the creature ended up kicking her and hurling her back towards the wall. The impact from the creature's foot had dropped the blacksmith's HP into the red zone. Before Lisbeth could hit the wall, Donis leapt in and caught her in his arms.

"Are you okay?" Donis asked with a look of concern.

"Yeah. I'm good." Lisbeth replied with a deep blush.

Meanwhile as the giant raised its club for another attack, Leafa sent forth another blast with her sword. The creature became trapped in another energy sphere and was shocked until the sphere exploded. As soon as the titan's HP went to zero, its body shattered into blue polygons with a burst of crimson flames. With the giant finally defeated, the word "Congratulations" appeared in the air in letters formed from white light. Right below the congratulatory message though was the phrase, "Next world unlocked".

"Next world unlocked? What's that mean?" Sinon wondered.

Before anyone could venture a guess to that riddle, the entire arena suddenly began to shake. A blinding white light filled the chamber, and when it cleared the four fairies found that they had been transported back to the top of the mound.

"What did we just do?" Leafa asked.

"If I'm interpreting the message that appeared when we defeated that giant correctly, it seems that we may have just unlocked another level of that underground world." Donis theorized. "One that most likely exists beneath that dead city of K'n-yan."

"That would track with the story that the whole dungeon is based on." Sinon responded. "If I'm remembering it right, there were at least two other worlds underneath K'n-yan."

"Well if we really did just unlock another level, I think we should wait for another time to explore it." Leafa suggested. "It's gotten late, and that boss fight took a lot out of me."

"We should probably wait to go down again until we're better equipped anyway." Sinon pointed out. "Liz, how long do you think it'll take you to make some more armor and weapons for us?"

"I'd say a couple of days, at least." Lisbeth answered.

"Then that's when we'll do our next raid." Sinon decided. "For now, let's just call it a night."

* * *

While Sinon and Leafa had logged out for the evening, Lisbeth decided to return to her shop to try and get a head start on forging some of the new equipment. As the blacksmith prepared to get to work, her mind went back to the moment when Donis came to her rescue at the end of the boss battle. That moment had made it clear to Lisbeth that she could deny her feelings no long. She was in love with Donis, or at least had very strong feelings for him. Of course she still didn't know if this young man she had fallen head over heels for was merely an illusion, yet Lisbeth felt like she had gotten a good glimpse of Donis's true personality in that moment when he saved her.

Despite her newfound certainty though, Lisbeth remembered the conversation she had with Asuna a couple of days before. She knew she couldn't be certain about anything when it came to Donis because the veil of his avatar still existed. There were no little mirrors like the ones at the start of SAO to lift that veil and reveal Donis's true face in the game. Even so, Lisbeth couldn't deny her feelings. Pursing a relationship with Donis was playing with fire, yet Lisbeth found that she was willing to take the risk. In the end, that kind of risk was involved in just about every kind of romantic relationship. There was always the danger of such a relationship ending badly and the hearts of both parties involved being crushed, but the reward was always worth the risk.

Suddenly the door to the blacksmith shop opened. Lisbeth was about to tell whomever it was who came in that she was closed, but when she turned around she saw that the person who had arrived was Donis.

"Um, good evening." Donis greeted somewhat nervously.

"Hi…" Lisbeth greeted back. "What brings you by so late."

"Well, I was hoping we could discuss what happened the other day I was here." Donis explained. "You know… when we let our passions run wild."

"Yeah, I've been wanting to talk to you about that too." Lisbeth admitted.

"I really feel I should apologize for what I did." Donis continued as he came down the steps and approached. "That odd crystal you found down in K'n-yan seemed to have some kind of strange effect on me."

"It kind of messed with my head too." Lisbeth replied. "But the thing is, Donis… I don't regret what happened that afternoon one bit. This may sound a little weird because I know we only just met very recently, but I have these… these really strong feelings about you."

"I confess that I feel strongly attracted to you as well." Donis admitted.

Lisbeth smiled and gave Donis a peck on the cheek. "Guess it was a good thing that I found that crystal, huh?"

"On that note, the other reason I dropped by was to suggest that I take if off your hands and dispose of it." Donis told her. "It might be better if it wasn't around to influence us."

"I can see that." Lisbeth agreed.

The pink-haired blacksmith glanced back down at the strange yellow metal box that was still on the same worktable they were standing next to. Lisbeth opened the lid and revealed the dark crystal within. Her eyes once again became locked on the nightmarish dreamscapes that seemed to dance around inside it. Donis appeared to be mesmerized by the crystal as well, and before either of them truly realized what they were doing they had become locked in a deep open-mouthed kiss. Donis pulled Lisbeth close as their tongues battled one another for dominance, while Lisbeth began to run her fingers through the Kirito lookalike's blonde hair.

After several moments of this, Donis regained her sensed and pulled away slightly. "Do you really want to be doing this?"

Lisbeth simply smiled and backed away from the gold swordsman. She brought up her menu screen, and after a few commands her clothes and even her undergarments vanished with a flash of blue light. Donis's jaw dropped upon seeing Lisbeth completely nude.

"Do me." Lisbeth told him as she sat up onto the edge of the table.

After a brief moment, Donis smirked and brought up his own menu screen. With only a couple of commands, his outfit vanished with a flash of blue light and he was left just as nude as Lisbeth. Lisbeth's eyes went rather wide upon seeing the size of Donis's erect manhood. For a brief moment she wondered if Kirito's was the same size and thought that Asuna was a lucky girl if it was. Donis came closer and the two of them became locked in another open-mouthed kiss.

When the two of them were finally forced to break apart for air, Donis began to suck on Lisbeth's neck, causing her to moan with pleasure. This went on for several more moments until at last Donis gently spread Lisbeth's legs apart and pushed his rod into her moist womanhood. Lisbeth let out a deep moan and threw her head back as the rod went into her. The feeling was more pleasurable than anything she had ever expected.

Donis took hold of the edge of the table and began to buck his hips into Lisbeth. The pink-haired blacksmith wrapped her arms around Donis's shoulders to help secure him in place. Lisbeth felt as if her whole body was on fire. She had no idea if sex in the real world felt as incredible as what she was experiencing, but at that moment she didn't give a damn. At Lisbeth's urging, Donis began to pound into her harder, causing her to wrap her legs tightly around his waist. Their bodies had become covered in sweat and Lisbeth's inner walls were starting to tighten around Donis's rod. With one last hard thrust from Donis, the two of them reached their climax in the same blissful moment. The two of them rested their foreheads against each other's as they came down from their high.

"Wow! You just rocked my world." Lisbeth declared.

"If you're willing, I can do it again." Donis offered. "Of course it would require you to turn around."

After a moment, Lisbeth smiled and nodded. Donis withdrew himself and allowed Lisbeth to get up from the table and turn around. The Kirito lookalike then bent Lisbeth over the table and inserted his still hardened manhood into her rear end. Lisbeth let out a silent scream and her eyes practically rolled to the back of her head. Donis began to pound into her, causing the blacksmith's lips to curve into an open-mouthed smile. All rational thought in Lisbeth's mind had completely gone out the window. A part of her still knew that she might get burned in this new relationship, but at that moment all she cared about was enjoying the ride.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I hope everyone enjoyed the little boss battle in that chapter. To be honest I had kind of a hard time writing it, particularly with coming up with the monster that the team would face. By the way, I forgot to mention before that the strange crystal in the story is based on an object called the Shining Trapezohedron from Lovecraft's story, _The Haunter of the Dark_.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	5. Past the Point of No Return

**Author's Note:** The title of this chapter comes from a song from _Phantom of the Opera_ with at least roughly the same title (I couldn't remember if the title was _Past the Point of No Return_ or just _The Point of No Return_ ). I can assure everyone that it's going to be a very appropriate title for this chapter.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online.

* * *

Chapter 5: "Past the Point of No Return"

It was midday as Leafa traversed a dense forest in sylph territory. There was no school that day, so the blonde fairy had decided to spend a good chunk of the afternoon level grinding in that forest to prepare for the next expedition into K'n-yan. Unfortunately, her efforts had not been going well, as she had discovered a flaw with her new sword that she had not anticipated. Just as Leafa was thinking of turning back, she heard footsteps coming up behind her and quickly reached for the handle of her sword. The blonde breathed a sigh of relief though when she saw that it was only Donis.

"Hello. Sorry if I startled you just now." Donis told her.

"It's fine. In fact I'm kinda happy to see you." Leafa told him. "What brings you here?"

"I just thought I'd see how you were doing." Donis answered. "So you've come here to train, I take it?"

"Yeah, but it hasn't been going well." Leafa replied. "I've found a little problem with my new sword."

"And what's that?" Donis asked.

Before Leafa could answer, a creature suddenly jumped out at them from the woods. It was a humanoid raccoon-like monster with brown armor covering his upper torso and waist. In its right hand, the creature wielded a short sword with a large notch near the top of the blade.

"Watch this." Leafa told Donis as she drew her sword.

Leafa swung her blade and sent forth a blast of energy at the raccoon man. A sphere of energy appeared around the beast and electrocuted it for a few moments before exploding. When the smoke cleared though, the creature's HP was untouched. The raccoon man growled and charged at Leafa, swinging at her with his weapon. Leafa successfully blocked the attack with her own sword and slashed the creature in the chest.

The raccoon man's HP only dropped by a relatively slight amount. Donis suddenly charged in with both his swords drawn and repeatedly slashed the raccoon man, taking his HP to zero in less than a minute. The raccoon man's body shattered into blue polygons upon being defeated.

"Thanks for that, but you didn't have to jump in." Leafa told him. "I could've taken him down. It just would've taken a while."

"I know, but I told you that it's not in my nature to simply stand by when a lovely lady like you is in trouble." Donis replied, causing Leafa to blush slightly. "In any case, I think I see the problem. The magical attack that your new sword produces only appears to work on the creatures down in K'n-yan."

"Yeah. Every other monster I've tried it on seems to be immune." Leafa confirmed. "I guess the elemental magic that it produces is some kind of weird unidentified element that only those monsters down under the mound are weak against."

"Well, at least this means we've been on the right track having Lisbeth forge armor and weapons for us from that metal." Donis observed. "If she can forge more weapons using the same metal combination used for your sword, we'd have a very decisive advantage over the monsters inhabiting K'n-yan."

"I already IM'd Liz about this to let her know." Leafa informed him. "The problem though is that my new sword still doesn't work anywhere else in the game. I mean it still cuts like a regular sword, but the quality of it as a regular weapon just isn't quite as good as my old sword."

"Perhaps you should have Lisbeth forge an alternate weapon for you." Donis suggested.

"Normally I would, but she's already pretty busy with forging weapons from that weird metal from K'n-yan." Leafa pointed out.

"True, but I don't see any other option." Donis replied.

"Actually… there is this one option." Leafa revealed. "In last month's update there was a new quest added to the game where players could get a special sword imbued with wind magic."

"I see. Why haven't you attempted this quest before?" Donis asked.

"Well, it involves defeating a dragon in order to get its fang." Leafa explained. "That fang is the material used to make the sword. The problem is that this dragon is supposed to be real tough. It's not the kind of quest that a player can do alone. And for the last few months my friends and I have been pretty busy with other stuff."

"Then in that case, how about I accompany you on this quest?" Donis suggested. "I'm not certain that I'll be an effective partner against this dragon, but I'm willing to help you in any way that I can."

"Well in that case, let's get going." Leafa decided. "To start the quest, we'll have to meat with this NPC blacksmith who's an old leprechaun. I know where his shop is."

"Lead the way." Donis replied.

With that, Leafa and Donis left the forest and headed off to the blacksmith shop that Leafa had spoken of. As they flew, Leafa once again couldn't help but notice how similar Donis was to Kirito. The similarity wasn't just in the way they looked, but in the aspects of their personality as well. Both Kirito and Donis seemed to be people who couldn't turn their backs on someone in need. Leafa wondered if perhaps she had truly found someone who really was like her brother.

After a few minutes of flying, the two arrived at a small rundown wooden shack in the hills. On top of the shack's roof was a thick cylindrical metal smokestack that was spewing a continuous plume of black smoke into the sky.

"Anything I should know about this place before we go inside?" Donis asked.

"The word is that the blacksmith is supposed to kind of cranky." Leafa answered. "Just let me do all the talking."

"As you wish." Donis replied. "Anything else?"

"Yeah. Do me a favor and don't tell Liz about this." Leafa requested. "She might be a little hurt if she knew I went to an NPC blacksmith."

"But won't she deduce that you did when she sees the new sword?" Donis pointed out.

"Oh… yeah." Leafa responded. "Well, let's just keep it a secret for now, okay?"

"Very well." Donis agreed.

With that, Leafa and Donis ventured into the decrepit old shop. Sitting at a small table inside by the forge was a diminutive old man with bushy white eyebrows and a short white beard. The top of the old man's head was completely bald, while from the sides grey long white hair that stopped just above his shoulders. The old man had on a pair of metal gloves, and he was sipping from a clay cup of what looked like tea when Leafa and Donis walked in.

The old man put down his cup and glanced at the two. "How may I help you?"

Leafa stepped forward and looked at the old man with a very serious expression. "I've come to ask you to forge the Tempest Sword."

At this, the old man looked away and shook his head. "What you ask is impossible. If that's all you've come for, then go. My time is too precious to waste with the likes of young fools like you."

"Are you saying you can't do it?" Leafa asked.

The old man stood from his chair and looked directly at Leafa. "I'll have you know that I've been forging great swords before your mother was even a gleam in your grandmother's eye! The reason I say what you've asked for is impossible is because I don't have the material needed to forge the sword."

"If I can get the material, will you forge it for me?" Leafa asked.

"…Very well." The old blacksmith responded as he sat back down. "To forge the Tempest Sword, you must bring me the fang of a great storm dragon that dwells in a cave in the mountains. But I caution you that this dragon is not an easy beast to defeat. He's killed armies of warriors. Still, if you're stupid enough to think you have a chance against something like that, than fine. Bring me the fang, and I shall forge you the sword."

A holographic screen appeared in front of Leafa asking her if she wanted to accept the quest she had just been given. Leafa pressed the yes button.

"As I've said, my time is precious. So I'm not going to give you forever to retrieve the fang." The old man told her. "If you don't come back with the fang in four hours, I'm going to assume that you're dead. It would serve a young fool like you right."

With that, the old man went back to his cup of tea. A countdown clock and a map to the dragon's location appeared on Leafa's heads-up display.

"I guess we don't have a moment to lose." Donis observed.

"Let's go!" Leafa replied.

The duo immediately headed out of the shop and flew off to the location of the dragon's cave. On the way there, Leafa and Donis began to formulate a plan to try and take down the dragon. Donis realized that they'd have to rely totally on healing potions during their battle, since their best chance of defeating the dragon before the time limit expired would be to attack the thing together. After almost half an hour, the duo arrived at the large mouth of the cave that was the dragon's lair.

"Well, here we are." Donis observed. "I guess the battle won't start until we enter the cave."

"Let's just hope that this dragon isn't too powerful." Leafa replied. "Two players may not be enough to beat it."

With that, Leafa began to walk towards the cave. Suddenly a massive shape flew out and nearly knocked Leafa and Donis off their feet. The two of them quickly recovered and looked up behind them to see what had emerged. It was a massive dragon with sky-blue scales and a pair of massive wings colored like a storm cloud on the inside. The dragon's eyes were blood red, and it had a pair of small gold horns on its head. Its body was serpentine and had only a pair of small arms with four-clawed hands. As the dragon roared, two HP gauges appeared next to it.

"Only two health bars." Leafa observed. "Maybe this won't be so hard after all."

"I don't think it would be wise to underestimate this dragon." Donis warned.

The dragon opened its jaws and fired a twister of razor-sharp wind down at Donis and Leafa. The two fairies jumped back and flew off into the air. Donis drew his two swords and flew straight at the dragon. The dragon responded by slashing at Donis with the gold blade tipping its tail. Donis was struck in the chest, taking off a small chunk of his HP. The gold swordsman quickly recovered and continued his charge, slashing it several times in the chest. The attack took almost a quarter off of the dragon's first HP gauge. After attacking, Donis fell back and rejoined Leafa.

Just as Leafa was about to fly in to land a blow, the dragon roared and fired several bolts of lightning from his wings. Leafa and Donis were both struck and nearly knocked out of the sky. Their HP dropped down into the yellow zone. After the attack, the two of them landed and took out some vials of healing potion.

"It appears that the dragon is unable to move for a few moments after using that lighting attack." Donis observed. "Rather typical drawback to a field attack like that."

"That'll give us the opening we need." Leafa noted. "Let's not waste this one!"

After recovering, Donis and Leafa flew back into battle. The dragon fired another twister of wind from its mouth, but the two of them easily evaded the attack. Leafa flew in for an attack, prompting the dragon to respond by trying to slash her with its tail. The blonde fairy managed to avoid the attack slashed the dragon in the chest. Unfortunately the attack only caused the dragon to lose a slight amount of HP. Leafa fell back and Donis moved in for another strike. The dragon roared and let loose another barrage of lightning bolts from its wings.

The duo managed to avoid the attack this time and Donis flew in to land several blows to the dragon. Once Donis's attack ended, Leafa moved back in to land two more attacks. The dragon's first HP gauge finally went into the red zone. Donis and Leafa kept alternating attacks for several minutes, slowly whittling down the dragon's HP. Every now and then they would take some damage from the dragon's attacks, but managed to recover with some potions. Eventually after using up their last few potion vials, the dragon's remaining HP gauge had fallen into the red zone.

"Looks like this dragon's just about had it." Leafa observed. "You better let me have the last attack. That's the only way I'll get the dragon's fang."

Donis nodded and moved in to deliver another attack. With a few more slashed from his sword, the dragon's HP had fallen to a mere sliver. The dragon let loose another barrage of lightning bolts from its wings, which the duo barely managed to avoid. Just as Leafa was about to fly in to deliver the finishing blow, the dragon suddenly opened its jaws and fired another twister of wind. Donis quickly flew in and pushed Leafa out of the way, taking the attack head on. When it ended, the Kirito lookalike's HP had fallen to a red sliver.

"Donis!" a concerned Leafa called out.

"I'm fine! Take the dragon out while you have the chance!" Donis told her.

After a brief moment's hesitation, Leafa flew in and cried out as she slashed the dragon across the chest, leaving a massive red gash. The dragon's HP went to zero and its body shattered into blue polygons. A holographic screen appeared in front of Leafa to notify her that she had received the dragon's fang. Leafa acknowledged the screen and quickly went back over to Donis's side, casting a healing spell on him to restore the damage that the dragon had done.

"We should've anticipated that the dragon's recovery time after using its field attack would decrease after taking so much damage." Donis noted as his HP rose back up.

"Yeah. But it doesn't really matter now." Leafa pointed out. "We got what we came for in the end."

"Indeed." Donis replied. "Now let's get back to that blacksmith before the time expires."

Leafa and Donis flew back to the blacksmith shop as fast as their wings could take them. By the time they finally made it back, they had less than half an hour left. As soon as Leafa walked into the shop with Donis following close behind, the old NPC blacksmith stood from his chair with an expression that could only be described as utter shock.

"My old eyes must be playing tricks on me!" the old blacksmith declared. "Surly you couldn't have come back with the fang!"

"I did." Leafa confirmed. "Now I think you owe me a sword."

"That I do." The old man replied with a heavy sword. "I am a man of my word, after all. Though had I actually had faith you'd succeed, I'd have charged you a fortune to have this sword forged. But as it is, I will do it for free. Now, give me the fang."

With that, a thick white dragon fang materialized in Leafa's hand. Once Leafa handed the fang over to the old man, he took it over to his forge and struck it several times with his metal hammer. After the final strike, the fang glowed orange and changed into a katana with a pure white blade and a gold handle.

The old man took the sword over to Leafa. "Here you are. The Tempest Sword, my finest work. Now, if you have no further business with me, I wish to be left alone."

Leafa took the sword and gave her thanks to the old blacksmith. Donis and Leafa left the old shack as the blacksmith sat down to drink more tea.

"I trust this new sword will be an improvement." Donis assumed.

Leafa drew the new blade and went over to a large boulder outside the shack. Seeing that it was a breakable object in the game, Leafa raised her new weapon to strike it. As the blade came down, it became shrouded in a twister of wind. The sword struck the boulder and reduced it to a pile of rubble.

"Yeah, I think this'll be fine." A satisfied Leafa declared as she sheathed her new weapon. "Thank you, Donis. There's no way I could've done this without you."

"It was an honor and a privilege to aid you in this quest." Donis told her before kissing the back of her hand.

Leafa's face turned a deep shade of red. If there was one major difference between Donis and Kirito beyond the little things like their hair color and the style of armor that they wore, it was that Donis was much more charming than Kirito. Donis was like a medieval knight out of a fairytale. With that charm combined with all the qualities he shared with Kirito, Leafa couldn't help but see Donis as the man of her dreams. He was everything that she wanted, someone who was like her brother but didn't see her as a mere relative. In that moment, Leafa was sure what she was feeling for Donis was love. And it was in that moment that Leafa decided that there was something she wanted to ask.

"Um, Donis?" Leafa nervously began. "Would you, uh… would you like to come over to my apartment in the game for… a drink or something?"

"I would be delighted, Leafa." Donis agreed.

After another few minutes of flight, Leafa arrived with Donis at the small apartment she had set up for herself in Swilvane. The place was a very simple apartment with one bedroom, one bathroom and a small kitchen that was attached to the living room. The living room was modestly furnished with only a green two-seated couch and a glass coffee table, but what the room lacked in furnishings was made up for by the large window that gave a spectacular view of the city.

"It's a rather quaint apartment you have here." Donis remarked as he looked around.

"I know it's not much, but it's got a great view for such a cheap place." Leafa replied. "Make yourself at home."

Donis nodded and brought up his menu screen with a wave of his hand. With a couple simple commands, the Kirito lookalike had removed his gold coat and armor, leaving him in a sleeveless green shirt. Leafa decided to change into a more casual outfit as well. After a few menu commands, Leafa had changed into a light green wool jacket over a low-cut black shirt, along with a pair of black elbow-high fingerless gloves, a short pine-green skirt and black leggings.

"That look is quite charming on you." Donis told her.

"T-thank you." Leafa replied with a deep.

After a moment's hesitation, Leafa sat down next to Donis on the couch. Her heart at that moment was pounding as though it might explode. There she was, completely alone with Donis. It was the best chance she had to tell him how she felt about him, but the words almost seemed to be tangled in her throat.

"Is something wrong, Leafa?" Donis suddenly asked, causing her to flinch. "You seem very tense."

"I, um…" Leafa began. "Donis, this might sound crazy, but… I think I might be in love with you. I mean I know we don't really know each other that well, but I can't deny these feelings that I have. At first I thought it was because in this world you look so much like my brother, but after today… I think it might be more than that."

"…I feel the same way." Donis admitted after a moment. "It is true that we've only recently become acquainted with each other, but I cannot deny the strong feelings that I have for you. I am drawn to you Leafa, the way a moth is drawn to a flame. I cannot pull away from you, no matter how much my brain may tell me to."

Leafa felt as though her heart might burst out of her chest upon hearing this. Their eyes met, and slowly their faces drew towards one another until the met in a passionate kiss. As the kiss deepened, the tip of Donis's tongue slipped out and pressed against Leafa's lips. The blonde fairy opened her mouth to allow his tongue entry. As their tongues began to grind against one another, Leafa put her arms around Donis's shoulders.

Before Leafa knew it, Donis had pushed her onto her back onto the couch. When they were forced to finally break for air, Donis began to kiss and suck on Leafa's neck, causing a moan to escape her throat.

"D-Donis?" Leafa spoke, causing the Kirito lookalike to pause. "Don't you think we're moving a little fast?"

"Perhaps. But don't you think we've come too far to stop now?"

Leafa couldn't deny that Donis had a point. That special place between her legs had become quite wet, and she could not deny the burning need she had for Donis.

"…Okay, but not here." Leafa told him. "Let's take it to the bedroom."

"Whatever you wish, my lady." Donis agreed.

With that, Donis sat back up and allowed Leafa to get off the couch. Leafa took his hand and guided him back to the bedroom, which had a large white bed for two with a decoratively carved wooden headboard. Once they were in front of the bed, Leafa turned to face Donis and brought up her menu screen. With a few quick commands, Leafa was down to a light-green lace bra and matching panties. Donis brought up his own screen as well, and in less then was second was down to a pair of gold briefs. Leafa blushed when she saw the large bulge between Donis's legs. She wondered for a moment if Kirito also had a package that big, but quickly pushed the thought from her mind.

Donis gently pulled Leafa into an embrace, and they quickly became locked in another deep open-mouthed kiss. After an uncertain amount of time, the two of them fell onto the bed and rolled so that Donis was on top. When they finally broke for air again, Donis went back to sucking on Leafa's neck. At the same time, Donis's left hand cupped Leafa's breast and gently squeezed, earning more moans of pleasure from the blonde fairy. After a few more moments though, Donis stopped what he was doing and pushed himself up to look Leafa in the eye.

"Dearest Leafa, if you will permit me, I would like to see all of you." Donis told her.

After a few moments of hesitation, Leafa nodded. They had already gone far past the point of no return. There was no longer any stopping or going back. Leafa brought up her menu screen once more, and with a few more commands she was left completely bare.

"You truly are the most beautiful creature I have ever seen." Donis told her.

Leafa blushed deeply upon hearing those words. Holding himself up with one arm, Donis brought up his own screen and removed his briefs, finally freeing his hardened manhood from its fabric prison. Donis went back to lightly kissing Leafa's neck, moving down until he came to Leafa's left breast and began to suck on it. At the same time, his hand set to work on massaging the right breast with his hand, occasionally toying with the erect nipple.

Leafa couldn't help but mew with pleasure as this went on. That special place between her legs had become like Niagara Falls. Eventually Donis stopped what he was doing and pushed himself back up to look at Leafa.

"Are you ready, my dearest?" Donis asked.

Leafa turned her head a way a little. "Please… be gentle with me. I've never done this before."

Donis smiled and gently stroked Leafa's cheek. "You needn't worry about a thing."

After a moment, Leafa finally nodded. Donis got onto his knees and spread Leafa's legs apart a bit. Then, after giving Leafa a light kiss on the lips, Donis pushed his rod into Leafa's womanhood. The blonde moaned and her eyes went wide as the rod slid inside of her. She had been expecting pain, but there was none. There was only an exquisite pleasure that she had never felt before. In that moment, Leafa dimly remembered that the amusphere blocked out the sensation of pain, which meant that the experience of losing one's virginity was a painless one.

Donis went at a slow gentle pace as he began to rock his hips. At Leafa's urging though, he began to gradually buck into her faster. Leafa's toes curled and her fingers dug into the sheets of the bed. After what seemed like an eternity, Leafa's inner walls finally began to tighten around Donis's manhood. Donis grabbed onto the headboard and began to plow into Leafa harder and faster. Then at long last they came to a climax in one glorious burst. Leafa felt the warmth of Donis's virtual seed shoot into her.

As they both came down from their high, Donis withdrew himself and got onto his side next to Leafa. Leafa rolled onto her own side to face him and Donis pulled her close and kissed her on the forehead.

"That was wonderful." Leafa whispered. "I feel so close to you right now."

"I feel the same way." Donis replied.

Leafa smiled and nuzzled up closer to Donis. She closed her eyes, and before she knew it she had drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Evening had fallen, and Kazuto was getting ready to sit down to dinner. He set out a plate of food for Suguha, wondering when she would come down from her room. Kazuto's sister had been online for practically the entire afternoon, and he hadn't seen her even once the entire day. Eventually, Suguha finally emerged from the stairway.

"So you're still alive." Kazuto joked. "I was starting to wonder if I was going to have to dive back into ALO to come get you."

"Sorry, I sort of lost track of time." Suguha replied as she sat down at the table.

"I've been there." Kazuto admitted. "So, what were you up to in there?"

"Uh… well, I went on a quest to get a new sword." Suguha answered, her face turning a bit red.

"You went on the Tempest Sword quest, didn't you?" Kazuto deduced.

"How'd you know that?" Suguha asked.

"You've been talking about that quest on and off since the last update." Kazuto reminded her. "So, did you do it with Sinon and Liz? I know that's not a quest a player can do on their own."

"Actually, my friend Donis helped me out." Suguha admitted.

"Oh… that's that guy you and the others met when you explored that underground dungeon, right?" Kazuto recalled.

"Yep. He was a big help to me fighting that dragon." Suguha replied.

"I see. So did you guys do anything else this afternoon?" Kazuto asked.

"Wh-what do you mean?" Suguha nervously asked.

"Oh you know, go on any other quests or stuff like that?" Kazuto asked.

"Oh… we just spent some time in the forest level grinding. That's about it." Suguha answered. "We're trying to get ready for another raid into that dungeon soon."

"I see…" Kazuto responded. "Well, I wish you guys luck then."

Kazuto and Suguha ate their dinner in silence after that. As they ate, something about the previous conversation continued to bother Kazuto. He had known is younger sister long enough to tell when she was lying or hiding something, and it seemed that she had been hiding something from him just then. Kazuto began to wonder just who his sister's new friend really was.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** At this point I'd like to give thanks to my guest reviewer, SuperSaiyanGod53 for his review of the previous chapter. In the end, that review helped me figure out the small quest that Leafa and Donis would go on in this chapter. I was pretty much drawing a blank on what that quest should be until I realized that the drawback to Leafa's sword could be that it doesn't work on regular monsters.

Anyway, if any one want to kick Donis in the balls after reading that chapter, go with the feeling. As I believe I said in the summary for this story, Donis is not what he seems to be.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	6. The World of Red

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online (or the works of H.P. Lovecraft).

* * *

Chapter 6: The World of Red

It was fairly late in the evening as Sinon sat on the couch in her apartment in ALO. The apartment was in a building on the fifty-sixth floor of New Aincrad. It had taken much of her money to obtain, but Sinon felt that the place was very worth it. The dwelling had two bedrooms, each with their own bathroom, as well as a fairly large kitchen. In many ways, the place was better than Sinon's apartment in the real world. Though she still had a ways to go where furniture was concerned. Besides the beds that each of the bedrooms came with, the couch she was sitting on and the coffee table in front of that couch, the place was practically bare.

At that moment, Sinon had her nose buried in the copy of the _Necronomicon_ she had found during the first raid into K'n-yan. The forbidden tome was proving to be as unsettling as the many stories it had been mentioned in implied. Sinon had barely gotten a quarter of the way through the book and had found several pages detailing the horrid secrets regarding the alien deities in Lovecraft's stories which sent chills her spine. She had also found many pages detailing bizarre magical rites that she couldn't help but find a little out of place in a game like ALO. At that moment though, Sinon was currently on a section of the book that detailed things about K'n-yan that before she had only suspected.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door that caused Sinon to flinch and let out a startled cry. Reading the _Necronomicon_ was obviously starting to get to her, so getting up to answer the door was the perfect excuse for a break. Upon opening the door, Sinon found Donis on the other side.

"Oh! Hi there." Sinon greeted.

"Good evening." Donis greeted back. "I hope you don't mind me dropping by so late."

"Not at all. Come on in." Sinon replied as she stepped aside to let him in.

"This certainly is a lovely apartment you have." Donis remarked as he looked around.

"Thanks. It cost me a bundle to buy though." Sinon replied. "It'll probably take me a while to get actual furniture. So, what brings you by?"

"I come baring gifts, actually." Donis answered as he brought up his menu screen. Appearing in Donis's hand with a flash of blue light was a bow made of a black metal with bluish-grey flecks. "Lisbeth just finished forging this new bow for you. She made it from an new experimental alloy using the tok'l-metal."

"I look forward to trying it out." Sinon replied as she took the bow. "Thanks."

Donis glanced over at the coffee table and noticed the book. "Catching up on a little bit of reading?"

"Sort of. I found that book during our first trip into K'n-yan." Sinon explained. "It's called the _Necronomicon_."

"Is it interesting?" Donis asked.

"That's one way to put it." Sinon answered. "Actually, the last bit I've been reading confirmed a suspicion I had about K'n-yan. Do you remember how when we beat that headless giant we got a message saying that we unlocked another world? It turns out that there are two other levels underneath K'n-yan. The level that we unlocked the other night is called Yoth."

"And what's the level beneath Yoth called?" Donis asked.

"The level under Yoth is called N'kai." Sinon answered. "N'kai is supposed to be inhabited by this nasty evil god, so we might want to take our time going down there. Still, both levels are probably worth exploring."

"Well then, in that case why don't we try exploring this Yoth place on our raid tomorrow afternoon?" Donis suggested.

"I don't know. I'm guessing that any monsters that might be down in Yoth will be stronger than the ones in K'n-yan." Sinon pointed out.

"True, but the new weapons Lisbeth's been forging should give us a decisive edge." Donis reminded her.

"Well, in that case let's look for the entrance into Yoth tomorrow." Sinon decided.

"Marvelous. I'll inform the others." Donis replied. "Well, I guess I'll be going now. Until tomorrow, then."

"Yeah. See ya." Sinon replied.

With that, Donis exited the apartment. Sinon found that she was a bit down that Donis had left. She hadn't let any of the others know this, but Sinon found that she was quite attracted to Donis. The fairy archer thought that perhaps her attraction to Donis was largely in part to his strong resemblance to Kirito in the game. Sinon had harbored a crush on Kirito almost ever since they had met in the game of GGO. At first Sinon kind of hated Kirito's guts just a tiny bit, partly because he had let her believe he was a girl to get information about the game. But the life and death experience they had fighting against the two psychotic gamers who together were the murderer known as Death Gun had ended up bringing them a bit closer.

Of course Sinon had never acted on her feelings for Kirito. The fact was that Kirito already had Asuna. At first Sinon wondered if she could somehow win Kirito over, but she soon realized she'd only be deluding herself. The bond between Kirito and Asuna had also been forged in a life and death situation, but one that had gone on for years in SAO. Sinon knew that a relationship like that was practically unbreakable, and thus had decided that a relationship beyond friendship with Kirito would never be.

And now Donis had come into Sinon's life. Donis was practically Kirito's twin at least in the game, but was as charming as a prince or a nobleman from medieval Europe. Sinon wondered if it was perhaps possible to have a romantic relationship with Donis in the game. The problem was that she didn't really know who Donis was in real life, if the charming figure she had come to know wasn't merely just a mask. Sinon shoved those thoughts from her mind and went back to the couch to continue reading the _Necronomicon_. She decided that her time that evening would be better spent trying to find every bit of information the book had on the subterranean world of Yoth. Sinon had the feeling that she and the others would need to know all there was to know about that world if they were going to stand a chance down there.

* * *

The afternoon sun was still fairly high in the sky as Sinon flew towards the mound. Donis and the others had already arrived by the time she landed. Sinon noticed that Donis was wearing a piece of black armor with gold flecks on his chest.

"Guess we're all here now." Lisbeth observed.

"Sorry I'm a little late." Sinon told them. "Donis, it looks like Liz made some new armor for you."

"She forged a new pair of swords for me as well." Donis revealed.

"Well, I guess we should go in now that we're all here." Leafa decided. "But how are we supposed to find the entrance into this Yoth place?"

"Hopefully we'll know it when we see it." Lisbeth responded. "Now let's go!"

The four ventured down into the mound, eventually returning to the blue subterranean world of K'n-yan. With no idea where to start looking for the entrance into Yoth, the party headed back to the large building where they had fought the headless giant and found all those items. They ventured back into the building, encountering one of the headless women that lurked around K'n-yan on their way in. The creature had been fairly easy for them to defeat with their tok'l-metal weapons. As soon as they got into the building's cavernous basement, the four found something that had not been there before. It was a square opening in the ground that gave off a peculiar red light. Upon closer investigation, the four saw that the opening led to a flight of stone steps that led deeper underground.

"This sure wasn't here before." Lisbeth noted.

"This must be the passageway to Yoth." Leafa realized.

"Then let's go in and see what we can find." Donis decided.

Donis went down into the passage with the other three following close behind. The stone corridor that the party soon found itself in was laid out very much like the corridor that led down into K'n-yan. After a few more minutes of walking, the four finally arrived at the end of the passageway. What they found when they emerged through the final door was another vast underground city very much like K'n-yan. The light that the cavern walls gave off was a brilliant red. Like in K'n-yan, the city of Yoth had large Aztec or Mayan style pyramids made of black stone. The rest of the buildings in the red-lit city, though they shared the same design as many of the buildings in K'n-yan were made of a black stone like the kind that seemed to make up the pyramids.

The four adventurers went into the city, keeping their eyes out for any monsters that might emerge. As they walked down what appeared to be the main street of the city, they found that the street was lined on both sides by seven-foot tall black stone statues of a snake with large bat-like wings.

"What's with all the snakes?" Leafa asked.

"Some of the metal statues I melted down to make our new weapons were of this same snake we're seeing now." Lisbeth recalled.

"I think these statues are supposed to be of Yig, the Father of Serpents." Sinon informed him. "He's supposed to be some kind of god that the people of Yoth worshiped. The people of K'n-yan worshiped Yig too, along with Cthulhu."

"It appears that Yoth is just as deserted as K'n-yan." Donis noticed as he looked around. "I wonder what sort of catastrophe was supposed to have befallen the people of these cities?"

Before any of the others could venture a guess, the heard the sounds of some kind of struggle coming from up ahead. As they quickly got closer, the four saw three fairy warriors fighting a familiar black blob. The first, who was flying through the air above the blob, was a young woman who appeared to be about seventeen or eighteen and had a fairly impressive bust. She had very pale skin with a slight purplish tint, and her purple transparent wings were shaped like those of a bad. Those traits and the fact that she was able to fly in an underground cavern told the four that the young woman was an imp.

The imp woman had long dark-purple hair that grew down to her waist and covered her right eye. The black breastplate she wore had a triangular opening at the top that showed off a bit of her cleavage, and on the armor over her stomach was the symbol of a crescent moon colored red. Pieces of black armor covered the imp woman's shoulders, and the shirt she wore under her armor had long purple sleeves. The rest of the imp woman's outfit consisted of a short red skirt cut well above the knee, and a pair of skintight purple stockings with black armored boots. In her right hand, the young woman carried a black sword.

The second player fighting the black blob appeared to be a young man with short red hair. He had on ornate red armor with gold trim, and a red triangular marking was on his right cheek. On the front of his chest armor was a gold symbol resembling a dragon. The young man's armor indicated to Donis and the others that he was a salamander. In both his hands, the young man wielded a large steel axe with a double-sided blade.

The third player involved in the battle was another young woman who looked to be about sixteen and was standing off to the side. She had light blue hair styled with braided pigtails, and light blue eyes. Those features indicated to the four that she was an undine. The undine woman had on pale blue robes with baggy sleeves, and covering her chest was a piece of white armor with blue trim. In her right hand, she carried a long silver staff topped with a blue orb.

"Where did these guys come from?" Lisbeth wondered.

"They must've been exploring K'n-yan and stumbled on the entrance into Yoth." Sinon assumed. "I gotta admit, it's kind of impressive the way these three made it this far down here."

"Indeed. Though they don't seem to be doing too well against that black blob." Donis observed.

From what Donis and the others could tell, the blob had only lost a very small amount of HP. The imp woman came down from above and slashed the entity with her sword, but the attack had done very little damage. After that, the blob shot several blade-like tendrils at the imp woman, forcing her to retreat back into the air. She had only taken a couple of hits from the counterattack.

"Dammit!" the imp woman cursed. "Blitzer, what the hell are you doing down there? I can't take this thing out by myself you know!"

"Get off my back, Selene!" the salamander responded. "Just you watch! I'm gonna tear this slimy bastard a new one right now!"

With that, the salamander known as Blitzer cried out as he charged at the blob. The blade of his axe set on fire as he raised it above his head. Before he could swing down the weapon though, Blizter was struck by several bladed tendrils from the blob and knocked onto his back. His HP had fallen into the red.

"Son of a…!" Blitzer began to curse as he got back up. "Hey Aria! I could use a little healing magic over here!"

"I'm on it!" the undine woman replied.

The undine known as Aria chanted a healing spell and Blitzer's HP went back up. Blitzer charged the thing once again and managed to strike the blob with his flaming axe. The horrid entity had taken very little damage though. In the next instant, Blitzer jumped back and managed to avoid getting skewered by more tendrils.

"They don't seem to be doing very well." Leafa observed.

"They're not equipped with the same weapons and armor that we are." Sinon pointed out. "Plus that blob is probably stronger than the ones we've faced."

"Maybe we should help them." Lisbeth suggested. "It kinda seems like they're in over their heads."

"I was just thinking the same thing." Donis replied as he drew his swords. "Besides, a battle like this will give me a chance to test out my new weapons."

With that, Donis began to charge towards the blob. Just as Blitzer and Selene were about to move in for another attack, Donis dashed in and slashed the blob several times with his black swords. The blob's HP quickly fell into the red. Donis quickly fell back, but the creature struck him in the chest with a pair of tendrils. Thanks to his new armor though, Donis lost a fairly small amount of HP.

"Finish it, Leafa!" Donis called.

Leafa quickly drew her sword and swung it, sending a blast of energy at the blob. The entity was hit and a transparent sphere formed around it. The seven warriors watched as the blob was shocked several times and its HP went to zero before its body swelled and exploded into blue polygons. With the battle at an end, Donis and Leafa sheathed their weapons.

"You kinda stole my thunder there man, but thanks." Blitzer told Donis as he walked up to him.

"It was no problem." Donis assured him.

"Whoever you guys are, your timing couldn't have been better." The imp warrior told them as she landed. "I'm Selene, by the way."

"Wait, as in Selene the Crimson Moon?" Leafa asked. "You're supposed to be one of the top imp players in the game."

"That's me. Though I certainly don't feel like it right now after almost getting my hand to me by some blob." Selene admitted. "Anyway, the guy you just saved is Blitzer, and our healer over there is my friend, Aria."

"It's nice to meet you all." The gold swordsman replied. "I am Donis. These are my companions, Leafa, Sinon and Lisbeth. We certainly didn't expect to see anyone else down here in Yoth."

"Yoth? Is that what this place is called?" Selene asked.

"Yeah, and the world above it is called K'n-yan." Sinon answered.

"You guys certainly seem to know a lot about this place." Blitzer observed. "And that gear you're carrying seemed like it was pure poison to whatever the hell that thing was. Mind telling us where we can get that kind of equipment?"

"I made this equipment myself from the weird metal that's found down here." Lisbeth revealed. "It's really the only edge we have."

"Boy did we go down here unprepared." Selene declared. "I told you this raid wasn't a good idea, Blitzer."

"Hey c'mon, where's your sense of adventure?" Blizter told her. "Besides, it all worked out in the end."

"Only because these guys showed up." Selene pointed out. "If they didn't we'd probably be toast."

"She's probably right, Blizter." Aria agreed. "My MP was really starting to run low. I probably only could've healed you and Selene a couple more times if Mr. Donis and his friends showed up."

"So what, do you want we should just leave?" Blizter asked.

"You don't necessarily have to do that." Donis told them. "This is my party's first time exploring Yoth. We could team up and investigate this place together."

"We can probably find more of the metal I used to make the weapons my friends and I use down here." Lisbeth added. "If we can scrounge more of it up, I'd be happy to make equipment for you three to use."

"That's actually not a bad idea." Selene agreed. "Okay, we'll team up with you guys for a while."

"Maybe we should split up into teams to cover more ground." Blizter suggested.

"Capital idea." Donis agreed. "Leafa, you and I shall team up with Blitzer. Lisbeth, you pair up with Aria. Sinon, that leaves you to team up with Selene."

"Sounds like a plan." Selene agreed. "Let's meet back up here in, say thirty minutes unless one of us finds something interesting. In that case, IM the others and we'll come to where you are."

The four teams then fanned out and began to explore the ruined city. The team of Sinon and Selene ended up taking the southeast corner of the city. For several minutes the duo explored all the small buildings in their area largely in silence, grabbing any metal items they could find so that Lisbeth could forge more equipment for them later. After a while, the dead silence of the city of Yoth started to get to Sinon.

"So, how long have you been teaming up with Aria and Blitzer?" Sinon asked in an attempt to make conversation.

"Aria and I have been teaming up for a couple of years ever since we entered the game together." Selene answered. "As for Blitzer, we've only been going on raids with him for like the last month or so. It was actually his idea for us to come down here, which I was kind of against from the beginning. Seems to be working out though."

"Why'd you guys team up with him?" Sinon asked.

"Well… it's sort of because Blitzer's my boyfriend." Selene revealed. "That, and he thought we might find some really rare and powerful items down here."

"Blitzer's really your boyfriend?" Sinon asked for confirmation.

"Yeah, but it's nothing series. Kind of a physical thing." Selene replied. "We don't even know each other outside the game. In fact… you can keep a secret, right?"

"Of course." Sinon answered.

"Okay, I'm only going to tell you this because you seem like you might be cool with it." Selene began. "I'm actually married IRL."

"Y-you're married?" a stunned Sinon asked as she stopped walking.

"Yeah, but it's pretty much a shame." Selene revealed. "Just something that our parents arranged and we had to live with it."

"Wow…" Sinon spoke. "So you've been cheating on him all this time?"

"Well it's not exactly cheating when it's online." Selene told her. "Nothing in this world is real, you know. Nobody in this world is really who they say they are in real life. We all put on masks when we're in here and leave our real selves at the door. I mean can you honestly say that the person you are in here is exactly like the person you are in the real world?"

Sinon had to admit that Selene had a point. If there was one major difference between her real self and her online persona, it was that she was much more confident and courageous. In the real world, Sinon was still afraid of guns due to a traumatic childhood incident, though she had been dealing with that fear much better since the Death Gun incident. When she was in GGO however, the sight of a firearm didn't scare Sinon at all. Perhaps it was because in the back of her mind Sinon had always known that the weapons weren't real and couldn't actually kill her, but there were many times in GGO and in ALO when Sinon felt like she really had become a different person.

As Sinon considered what Selene had told her, she had a dark thought regarding Donis. The conversation reminded Sinon that Donis might not be who he seemed to be in ALO. He looked like Kirito in the game and even had a much more charming version of Kirito's personality, but Sinon knew that there was a very good chance that the Donis she knew was merely a mask.

"So… have you ever wondered about the person Blitzer is IRL?" Sinon asked.

"I guess a little bit from time to time, but to be perfectly honest I guess I don't really care." Selene answered. "When you're in a relationship like mine that's totally online, it's a lot better not to worry about that kind of stuff. Just ignore it and cut loose."

Before the conversation could go any further, Sinon received a message from Donis. The message informed her that Donis's team had found something interesting.

"Looks like Donis might've found something." Sinon informed Selene. "It's a small pyramid of some kind in the northwest section of the city."

"Then let's go take a look." Selene decided.

In a few minutes, Sinon and Selene arrived at a small building elevated by a set of steps. The building resembled an Egyptian pyramid, one that was much smaller than the other pyramids in the city. The pointed capstone at the top of the pyramid appeared to be made out of a red crystal, and the building's entrance was between two very large statues of the serpent god, Yig. The other two teams were already waiting by the large rectangular entrance to the pyramid by the time Sinon and Selene showed up.

"So what's the big deal about this mini-pyramid?" Selene asked.

"We don't know. We haven't gone inside yet." Leafa answered.

"We thought it would be best if we waited to go in together." Donis explained.

"Hey Aria, how much MP do you still have left?" Selene asked.

"I was able to recover quite a bit using the potions I had left." Aria answered. "I'm not exactly maxed out, but we should be find if end up running into a bunch of monsters in there."

"I don't know. Something about this building doesn't seem right." Sinon remarked.

"I agree. Maybe we should come back another time after we get some better equipment." Selene suggested.

"C'mon Selene. Where's your sense of adventure?" Blitzer responded before heading on through the entryway.

Sinon and the others decided to go on in after the salamander warrior after a brief moment, with Selene letting out a heavy irritated sigh. The inside of the pyramid was pitch-black. As soon as everyone had gotten in, a pair of large stone doors slammed shut behind them. Several torches lining the walls of the chamber suddenly ignited with red flames to give light to the place. It was in that light when the group saw what was inside the pyramid.

Coiled before them was an immense silvery-white snake with scales that seemed to reflect the light like a piece of chrome. It had four red eyes that seemed to burn like fire, and on its body was a pair of massive red bat-like wings. The serpent rose before the group and roared. As soon as it did, four HP gauges appeared by the serpent's head. Above the creature's head had also appeared its name. Yig, Father of Serpents.

"Not good!" Sinon declared. "That's the snake god that the people of Yoth worshiped!"

"Blitzer, you idiot!" Selene cursed. "You just led us into a damn boss room!"

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Yig is actually one of the lesser known deities in Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. Since it was said to be worshipped in Yoth in _The Mound_ , I decided that it would make a good boss monster.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	7. Father of Serpents

**Author's Note:** I trust that everyone reading had a good holiday weekend. Anyway, without further delay, here's the next chapter of The Gold Swordsman.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online (or the works of H.P. Lovecraft).

* * *

Chapter 7: Father of Serpents

The serpent god, Yig opened his jaws and fired a ball of crackling red energy down at the two teams, forcing everyone to scatter. The fairy warriors narrowly managed to get out of the way seconds before the energy projectile could hit. As Selene took off into the air, Yig swung his tail around and cut her in the arm with the blade that was on his tip. The attack caused Selene to lose close to half her HP. Selene recovered and flew towards Yig's face while the serpent god continued to swing his tail around the chamber at the others and slashed the beast in the face with her sword. The attack had done very minimal damage to the serpent, taking off only a very small amount of HP. As soon as Leafa got the opportunity, she swung her sword and sent a blast of energy up at Yig's head. A sphere of energy formed around Yig's head and shocked him continuously for a few moments before exploding, but when the smoke cleared the serpent god had barely lost fifteen percent of his HP.

"No way! That attack should've done more damage!" a stunned Leafa declared.

"Clearly this monster is far more powerful than any of the other creatures we've faced down here!" Donis observed.

"Well that's just great!" Selene sarcastically declared. "Nice going Blitzer! You brought us into a boss fight with a giant snake we're barely equipped to handle!"

Blitzer ducked out of the way of Yig's still moving tail. "Well excuse me for being adventurous!"

Just then Yig fired another blast of energy from his mouth that struck Blizter and knocked him into the closed stone door of the chamber. When the dust from the attack had settled, Blitzer's HP had become a red sliver.

"This is so typical of you Blitzer, you know that?" Selene ranted. "Every time we get together we always end up going on some quest or raid that you want to go on! I'm getting damn sick of it!"

"Why don't you just lighten up, Selene!" Blitzer told her. "This is just a damn game you know!"

Selene responded by chanting a spell that fired a ball of purple energy down at Blitzer. The salamander warrior's HP went to zero and he turned into a ball of red florescent flames.

"Consider yourself dumped, dumbass!" Selene told the fireball.

"Whoa! Talk about harsh." Lisbeth declared.

"Selene, shouldn't we revive him?" an alarmed Aria asked.

"Screw him! He's dead weight!" Selene declared. "You're better off using your healing magic on the rest of us! Now if only I had a weapon that could do some actual damage to this damn snake!"

Lisbeth struck the side of Yig's tail with her mace, taking off a small but sizable portion off of his first HP gauge. "Hey Selene, did you and Aris run into any of those headless women up in K'n-yan on the way down here?"

"Yeah, in fact I got a drop item off of it!" Selene recalled. "It was a sword of some kind!"

"That sword's made of the same metal as most of our weapons!" Lisbeth informed the imp woman as she dodged another swing from Yig's tail. "It's not the best quality, but it should give you a little bit of an edge against this thing!"

"Thanks! Good to know!" Selene replied.

Donis dodged an incoming swing of Yig's tail and struck him with one of his swords, taking off another chunk of HP. "Everyone! Keep yourselves spread out and strike Yig when you can! This is going to be a long battle!"

As the flame left behind by Blitzer faded to nothing, Selene quickly reequipped herself with the tok'l-metal sword she had gotten. Meanwhile, Yig fired another projectile of energy down at Sinon. Sinon dashed away to her left and barely managed to avoid the attack. As soon as Sinon got her footing, she fired an arrow up at Yig, striking him in the side of the neck. Soon after, Leafa fired another blast from her sword at Yig, creating an energy sphere that finally took the serpent god's first HP gauge into the red zone. Selene flew down from behind and quickly slashed Yig three times in the back of the head, causing the HP in his first gauge to drop to zero.

Yig began to swing his tail around the boss room again. Donis was caught in the back and knocked to the ground. Aris quickly cast a spell that restored much of his HP, and as soon as Donis was back to his feet her charged in slashed at Yig's scaly hide wildly with his two blades, taking off a sizable chunk from the serpent god's HP. The gold swordsman was forced to quickly fall back as soon as the massive tail came back his way. Meanwhile, Selene continued to attack Yig from the air, slashing the beast in the back of the neck with her sword. The damage from Selene's attacks was minimal, but it was slowly piling up.

Before long, Yig stopped swinging his tail, signaling to the team that he was about to use his energy attack. Sinon saw that the creature was once again facing her and fired her bow. The arrow went into the creature's open mouth as another energy ball began to form inside it. The resulting shot caused an explosion that completely shrouded in smoke. Yig's second HP gauge quickly became a red sliver. While Sinon and most of the others were stunned to see the amount damage the explosion had caused, Selene took the opportunity to strike Yig in the neck again, dropping the beast's second HP gauge to zero.

"It seems we've finally found a weakness that we can exploit!" Donis realized. "Sinon! Stay on the outer rim of the chamber with Aria and be ready to fire a shot whenever Yig opens his mouth! In the meantime, conserve your arrows!"

Sinon did as ordered and fell back over to Aria's position. Meanwhile, Leafa fired another blast up at Yig just as the smoke around his head cleared. Once the resulting energy sphere had exploded and done its damage to Yig, the serpent god began to swing his tail around the chamber again. Sinon was forced to change her position every now and then to maintain a good shot at Yig's mouth. Meanwhile, Donis and the others continued to hit Yig with everything that they had. Eventually the serpent god's third HP gauge finally entered the yellow zone. At that point, Yig opened his jaws again to launch another energy attack, only for Sinon to fire another arrow into his open mouth.

The resulting explosion from Sinon's arrow took Yig's third HP gauge to zero, leaving him with one remaining bar of health. Before the smoke could clear, Leafa hit Yig with yet another energy attack.

"We've finally got this scaly bastard on the ropes!" Selene declared. "Let's take him down!"

Donis and the others resumed their attacks, taking Yig's HP down even further while taking some damage of their own. Before long they had managed to get Yig's final HP gauge into the yellow zone. Meanwhile Sinon constantly waited for her next shot, the one she was sure was going to be her final shot of the battle. At last, Yig opened his mouth in her direction. Without hesitation, Sinon fired her arrow into the snake's mouth just as the energy blast began to form. Sinon's arrow hit its mark, causing an explosion that dropped Yig's HP to zero. Yig's neck began to sway and toppled over, revealing that his head had been completely blown off. The serpent god's body struck the floor of the chamber with a loud thud before shattering into blue polygons.

With the battle finally at an end, a holographic window appeared before Sinon to notify her that she had gotten a drop item from the last attack. At the same time, the standard congratulatory message appeared in the air in white glowing letters, along with the phrase, "Next world unlocked. Enter at your own risk."

"Wait, does that mean there's another level underneath this one?" Selene asked.

Suddenly the message vanished and the entire chamber began to shake. Soon after the entire room became enveloped in a blinding flash of light. When the light finally cleared, Donis and the others were back on top of the mound.

"Well, that was a rough fight." Selene declared.

"Yeah, but we managed to make it out of there somehow." Aria pointed out.

"I know the experience we just shared was a difficult one for you ladies." Donis told Selene and Aria. "Yet despite the experience, would either of you be willing to venture down into those worlds again?"

"Well… maybe if I had some of that weird metal equipment that you four have, I'd be willing to go down there again." Selene answered.

"The same goes for me." Aria admitted. "As creepy as those two places are, they sure are interesting."

"Hey Sinon, did you get anything from that battle with Yig at the end?" Lisbeth suddenly asked.

"Actually, yeah. I was just about to take a look." Sinon answered.

Sinon brought up her menu screen and found the item she had obtained at them end of the battle. The item in question was a piece of equipment called the Coat of Yig. Sinon decided to equip the item, and with a flash of blue light she was wearing a sleeveless long coat that appeared to be made of a silvery-white snakeskin like Yig's own hide. The fairy archer found that the coat had a large hood and decided to put it up. As soon as she did, Sinon seemed to completely vanish.

"What the… where'd she go?" a stunned Leafa asked.

A few seconds later as everyone looked around trying to find Sinon, Leafa felt someone tap her on the shoulder, causing her to let out a surprised squeal. A second later, Sinon reappeared behind Leafa with her hood down and a large smirk on her face.

"Oh wow! I know there are items in this game that can make players invisible, but I've never seen one that perfect." Lisbeth declared.

"That's a pretty good weapon for an archer." Selene remarked. "I wonder if there are other items like that down in those underground cities."

"The only way to find out is to explore them." Donis pointed out. "While we may have defeated the strongest monsters that dwelled down in K'n-yan and Yoth, we've barely explored either of those two worlds. I propose that the six of us form a guild dedicated to exploring those two dungeons."

"That's actually not a bad idea." Aria remarked. "With a guild, we could be more organized about exploring K'n-yan and Yoth. Of course we'd need a lot more than just six members for it to really work."

"I think I can find some new recruits to help us out." Selene suggested.

"I would be happy to help you with that task." Donis offered.

"A large guild would be nice to have for fighting some of those monsters." Sinon realized. "Especially if there's another monster like Yig on the level below Yoth."

"With a guild, I could collect a lot more material for making equipment." Lisbeth pointed out.

"Looks like we're all for this." Leafa observed. "So what should we call this new guild of ours?"

"I say we name our guild after the creature we just slew to help tell the story of its founding." Donis proposed. "We should call ourselves the Order of Yig."

"I like it." Lisbeth agreed.

"Me too." Leafa replied.

"Then I guess it's settled." Selene decided. "From this point on, we are the founders of the Order of Yig."

* * *

Night had fallen, and Sinon had returned to her apartment in New Aincrad to relax. The only outfit she had on was a sleeveless grey shirt and a pair of blue shorts. It had been an eventful day, and Sinon had needed some time alone to unwind and process all that had happened. Whether it was in her virtual apartment or her apartment in the real world where she did this made no difference. As Sinon tried to relax, her mind kept wandering back to thoughts of Donis. She still couldn't deny that she had feelings for him, yet Sinon still had no idea if she had fallen in love with the real person or just a persona in an online game. The conversation she had with Selene down in Yoth had been at the very front of Sinon's thoughts.

Just as Sinon was about to log out for the evening, there was a knock at the door. Forgetting about her appearance, she got up to open it and found Donis standing on the other side. The fairy archer blushed when she finally remembered what she was wearing.

"Oh! Hi Donis." Sinon greeted. "What a surprise."

"I'm sorry. Perhaps I should come at another time." Donis suggested.

"Uh, no. No, come on in." Sinon told him, stepping aside to let him enter.

"I just wanted to tell you that the gild has been officially formed." Donis told her as he walked in. "Aria is busy with creating some specialized uniforms for us as we speak. It turns out she's a skilled tailor among other things."

"Couldn't you have told me this with an IM?" Sinon asked.

"I could have, but I also wanted to come by and thank you in person." Donis explained. "We probably couldn't have defeated Yig without you."

"I just got lucky stumbling on that weak point." Sinon modestly replied.

Donis put his hand on her shoulder. "Give yourself more credit, Sinon. You are a skilled archer, and someone who I consider to be a very valuable partner."

Sinon found herself quite touched by Donis's words and his kind smile. Before she knew it, she had become lost in the Kirito lookalike's emerald eyes. Sinon began to move closer to him and soon planted a firm and passionate kiss on his lips. As Sinon pulled away, Donis seemed to have a look of surprise on his face, but seconds later he returned the kiss. Before either of them knew it, they had begun to explore each other's mouths with their tongues. Several moments later after they were forced to break for air, the more rational part of Sinon's brain seemed to switch back on.

"I-I'm sorry." Sinon told Donis.

Donis gently stroked Sinon's cheek. "Don't be."

With that, Donis moved in and began to kiss and suck on Sinon's neck, stumbling upon a very sensitive spot. Sinon knew that what she was doing with Donis at that moment was probably a very bad idea, yet she was finding it impossible to resist the pull Donis had on her at that moment. Then from the back of her mind, Sinon remembered what Selene had said about how in an online relationship it was better to simply cut loose and not worry about who the other person might be in real life. In that moment, Sinon simply decided to just let go of her inhibitions and just go along with what was happening. After all, it was probably too late for either of them to stop anyway.

After a while, Donis turned Sinon around in his arms and began to massage her breasts through her shirt while still continuing to suck on her neck. Sinon wasn't wearing a bra underneath, so Donis could feel her already erect nipples through the fabric. The fairy archer had become putty in the gold swordsman's hands. Eventually, Sinon called up her menu screen and with a few quick commands caused her clothes to vanish with a flash of blue light. Sinon was left completely nude and Donis continued to fondle her breasts.

An uncertain amount of time passed, and before long Donis turned Sinon back around and pushed her against the wall. The gold swordsman brought up his own menu and quickly causes his outfit to disappear. Donis planted another firm kiss on Sinon's lips before finally pushing his rock-hard manhood into Sinon's moist entrance. Sinon let out a deep moan and Donis penetrated her. She had never imagined anything could be so wonderful.

Sinon wrapped her legs tightly around Donis's waist and held onto his firm shoulders as he pounded into her. The bluenette had become totally lost in the pleasure of the experience. As Donis continued, Sinon dug her nails deeply into his back. An eternity seemed to go by until in one glorious moment the two of them managed to hit their climax at the same time.

"That was… wow!" Sinon declared.

Suddenly Donis heard a beeping noise as a holographic screen appeared near him. "Oh blast! I totally forgot I have an appointment to keep elsewhere. I'm sorry, my dear Sinon, but can we continue this another time?"

"Yeah, that's no problem." Sinon answered.

With that, Donis withdrew himself and with a few quick menu commands he was wearing his original outfit. Donis said his goodbyes, and with another command he vanished from the room with a flash of blue light. Sinon let out a sigh and put on the outfit had been wearing when Donis first came over. Noticing the time, Sinon decided it was time to log out for the evening.

* * *

After passing through a tunnel of light, Shino opened her eyes to see the ceiling of her bedroom in the real world. She took off the amusphere headset and rolled onto her side, trying to process what had just happened. Now that she was thinking clearly again, Shino could see that what she and Donis had just done was probably a mistake. Yet again, she remembered what Selene had told her about cutting loose and not worrying about anything.

 _'Maybe I should just take it easy and see where this goes for now.'_ Shino thought. _'After all, what harm could it do?'_

Shino decided not to dwell on the matter any further and closed her eyes. Before she knew it, she had drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Please review and let me know what you think.


	8. Knights of the Mound

**Author's Note:** Happy New Year to all who are reading this. What better way to ring in the new year than with another chapter of this story? Well, there are probably more than a few, but here it is anyway.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online (or the works of H.P. Lovecraft).

* * *

Chapter 8: Knights of the Mound

It was very late in the afternoon as Silica wandered through a dense forest in ALO. Her faithful tiny blue dragon, Pina was perched atop her head. Silica had been trying to level up in the hopes of Kirito and Asuna in the coming boss fight on Floor 75 of New Aincrad. Unfortunately, despite all her work during the past month, the young dragon tamer still wasn't quite up to the task of helping in the fight. Of course Silica knew that the fight on Floor 75 wasn't life or death like it was in SAO, but she still wanted to help Kirito in whatever way she could in that battle.

Noticing how late it had become, Silica decided to get to a nice save point location and log out for the day. She knew there wasn't much time before the big raid, but she had some homework to finish still and it was a night when the stronger monsters started to appear in the forest. As Silica began to head out, she heard the sound of a twig snapping and froze. Pina rose from her perch and hovered near her master, waiting for whatever had made the noise to emerge. Whatever it was that made the noise was starting to emerge from the trees just up ahead.

Silica watched with her dagger in hand as the thing approached, but soon breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that it was only Leafa. Right away though, the pint-sized dragon tamer noticed something very different about the blonde fairy. Leafa was wearing a different outfit than what she usually wore. The blonde's new wardrobe was similar in many ways to her normal outfit in ALO; only her dress was gold with black trim, complimenting the black and gold breastplate she wore. The flower petal-like ribbon that Leafa used to tie her hair in its usual ponytail was black with gold trim, and she had on a pair of black boots. Around Leafa's left upper arm was a gold and black armband showing a shield-like symbol depicting the head of a snake. After noticing the armband, Silica checked her heads-up display and noticed the same symbol by Leafa's name.

"Hi there, Silica." Leafa greeted. "Surprised to find you out here so late."

"Same here. You kinda startled me." Silica replied. "Say, are you in a guild now?"

"Yeah, I have been for the last two and a half weeks now." Leafa answered. "I'm actually one of the founders along with Lisbeth, Sinon and a few others."

"Okay, but why a guild?" Silica asked. "I mean I have nothing against it, but why'd you guys decide to form one?"

"It was our friend, Donis's idea." Leafa explained. "He thought a guild would help us explore the dungeons of K'n-yan and Yoth. You know, those underground dungeons in imp territory."

"Oh yeah. I've been hearing a lot about that recently." Silica replied. "So how many players are in your guild?"

Leafa put her fingers to her chin and looked up in thought. "Last time I checked, I think it was about twenty or thirty. Say, would you be interested in joining, Silica?"

"I don't know. Those dungeons just sound kind of creepy to me." Silica answered.

"They're actually not that bad, especially when you're traveling through them with a large group." Leafa assured her. "How 'bout this? You could come along with me on tomorrow afternoon's raid as kind of a guest. Then you can see what it's like."

"Well… okay." Silica finally agreed. "I guess one afternoon off from level grinding won't hurt."

* * *

Sinon was totally naked and bouncing on top of an equally nude Donis on the bed in her apartment. Her lips had curved into a goofy open-mouthed smile as she rode the Kirito lookalike. The feeling of having Donis's rock-hard manhood inside of her was sheer bliss. Donis reached up and put his hands on the catgirl fairy's breasts, prompting Sinon to put her own hands over his and press them against her. Before long, Sinon felt herself coming close to the edge and picked up her pace. Then at long last the two lovers hit their climax in the same sweet moment. A silent scream left Sinon's throat as she felt Donis's warm seed shoot into her. As she came down from her high, Sinon dismounted Donis and flopped onto the bed next to him.

"That… was fantastic." Sinon declared as she caught her breath.

"Glad I could satisfy you." Donis replied with a cocky smirk. He then glanced over at the _Necronomicon_ , which was lying on the nightstand. "Sinon… I noticed something interesting on one of the pages of the Necronomicon as I was reading over your shoulder while you flipped through it before."

"What was it?" Sinon asked.

"It appeared to be some sort of spell or ritual." Donis answered. "From the little I saw of it, the spell seems to detail a way to peer into other dimensions. Would you mind if I looked it up?"

"Go right ahead." Sinon agreed as she sat up slightly. "Now you've got me curious."

Donis took the book from the nightstand and began flipping through the pages. After a few moments, he seemed to find the page he had been talking about earlier.

"I was right. This spell seems to allow the one who recites it to see portals in space and pass through them." Donis confirmed. "Or to simply shoot or throw objects through those portals. For instance, if you were to fire through one of your arrows through such a portal, it would fly through and come out of another portal and hit its target at a completely different angle from the one it was fired from."

"Wow! That could come in pretty handy." Sinon observed. "So, what would I need to do to perform this spell?"

"Well… from what I can tell, it seems to involve a sort of sex ritual." Donis answered. "You'd have to recite the spell from the book while we have intercourse. Would you be willing to do something like that?"

Sinon couldn't help but find it odd that such a ritual would even exist in a game like ALO. Yet many things in the game had been rather strange lately, ever since the mound had appeared. Either way though, Sinon didn't have any objections to performing the ritual, and was very interested in seeing it could really give her the kind of power Donis had described to her. Besides, it was the perfect excuse to have Donis inside of her again.

"Let's do it." Sinon decided.

Donis nodded and used his pillow to prop the open book up at the end of the bed. Sinon then got on all fours facing the book so she could read it. Once she was in position, Donis got behind her on his knees. Sinon nodded once she was ready, prompting Donis to take hold of her rear and push his rod into her womanhood from behind. The fairy archer moaned as she felt Donis sliding inside her, but she quickly focused on the book passage that Donis had pointed out to her.

"Yog-Sothoth, guardian of the gate." Sinon read as Donis began to plow into her. "I ask thee to lift… to lift the veil from my eyes and reveal to me the corners of creation… hidden from mortal sight. Open my mind… as I have opened my body… and let me gaze upon the wonders, AH… upon the wonders concealed beneath the surface… beyond the surface of this world!"

At this point, Donis pulled Sinon's left leg straight back and began to plunge into her harder and deeper. Though she was overcome with pleasure, Sinon focused on trying to complete the spell.

"Yog-Sothoth is the key! I am the gate! I offer myself to be unlocked… so that I may witness the glories… the glories of the great… BEYOND!"

With that final word, Sinon and Donis came to a hard climax at the same moment. In that same moment, Sinon's body gave off a brilliant green aura. Her entire body felt as if it was on fire as Donis's warm seed shot into her again. When it was over, Sinon collapsed onto her side and Donis fell back against the headboard. The fairy archer's body was covered in sweat. A holographic screen appeared before Sinon to let her know that the spell was achieved successfully.

"Well… did it work?" Donis asked after catching his breath.

"We'll soon find out." Sinon answered as she managed to sit up a bit.

After enabling a command on the menu screen that popped up, Sinon's eyes turned a light green. The fairy archer began to look around the room and saw what looked like a small red dot in the corner. Sinon reached out to the dot as if to touch it, and suddenly the dot changed and expanded into a dark hole. As Sinon looked into it, she thought she could make out the image of the back of her own head in the distance.

"Whoa!" Sinon exclaimed as she fully sat up.

"You see a portal?" Donis asked.

"Yeah… hold on a sec. I wanna try something." Sinon told him as she got up from the bed.

With her arm still reaching towards the portal, Sinon began to walk towards it. The portal grew wider as she came closer and the images inside it became clearer, and after walking through the spectral opening she emerged on the other side in the opposite corner of the room.

"Oh wow!" Sinon declared. "This is incredible!"

"Indeed. Just think of how you can use this power with your arrows." Donis pointed out.

"I would've killed for an ability like this in GGO." Sinon replied. "It'll probably take some time for me to get the hang of it though."

"I have no doubt that you'll master it in no time." Donis told her.

"Yeah…" Sinon responded. "What other spells are in that book?"

* * *

It was midafternoon as Silica and Pina followed Leafa through the air towards the mound. As they approached the sinister landmark, Silica could make out that several people were standing atop the mound, at least twenty-seven people by her count. In moments, Silica and Leafa made their landing and Lisbeth ran up to greet them. Silica immediately noticed that the pink-haired blacksmith was wearing a gold and black version of her normal ALO outfit, complete with the same armband that Leafa had.

"Hey guys!" Lisbeth greeted. "Glad you could make it, Silica."

"Leafa made this place sound interesting." Silica replied. "Where's Sinon?"

Suddenly Silica felt a tap on the back of her shoulder that made her jump and let out a startled cry. She turned around to see who it was but found that nobody was there. In seconds though, Sinon seemed to materialize out of thin air right before her eyes.

"Hey." Sinon greeted with a mischievous grin.

"How… how did you do that?" Silica asked as Leafa and Lisbeth snickered a bit behind her.

"It's this new coat I got from a boss fight a few weeks ago." Sinon explained. "Whenever I put the hood up, I can turn invisible."

"And you got this in a boss fight down in one of these underground dungeons?" Silica asked.

"That's right." Lisbeth confirmed. "That was the boss fight that made us decide to form the guild."

"Well, well. What have we here." A voice cut in. The four looked to see Selene walking up with Aria, both of them wearing gold and black versions of their original outfits.

"Hi Selene. This is an old friend of ours, Silica." Leafa explained. "I invited her to join the guild and thought she could tag along on this raid to see what it's like. I hope that's okay."

"It's no skin off my nose." Selene replied. "Of course she does seem kinda young for a raid like this."

"I guess I don't have a problem with it either." Aria interjected. "Although Mr. Donis might."

"Oh please. Donis won't mind at all." Lisbeth told the undine. "Especially when he finds out Silica's a friend."

Silica began to look around at the other assembled players. Most of them had very pale skin with a purplish tint and dark hair, indicating that they were imps. Going by hair color alone, Silica picked out a few other undine players, as well as a few sylphs and salamanders. But there was one thing about every one of the players that stood out to the young dragon tamer.

"Hey Leafa, is everyone in this guild a girl?" Silica asked with a quirked brow.

"Everyone except for Donis." Leafa answered. "It just kinda worked out that way."

"It's no surprise I guess, since Donis has been helping me with most of the recruiting." Selene pointed out. "With those looks of his and that charm, he was bound to attract a lot of fangirls who probably just joined the guild to try and get close to him."

"No surprise there." Lisbeth remarked.

Before Silica could ask about what Donis was like, the gold swordsman landed on the mound before them. "Hello all. It looks like we're ready to go."

Silica did a double take upon seeing Donis. "K-Kirito?"

Donis raised an eyebrow and then chuckled. "I take it, Leafa, that this is a friend of yours?"

"Silica is old friend of Liz and my brother from their days in SAO." Leafa explained.

"This kid was in SAO too?" a surprised Selene asked. "Guess this kid's tougher than I thought."

"Anyway, Donis. We were hoping that Silica could tag along on this raid." Leafa continued. "She thinks she might be interested in joining the guild, but isn't sure yet."

"Well if that's the case, she's more than welcome to come along." Donis agreed. "Let us show her the wonders that lie underneath the mound."

With that, the assembled guild members plus Silica ventured down into the mound. As soon as they entered the dark passage, Silica almost instantly became on edge. It was like they had entered a massive tomb and whatever was buried there might rise from the ground to take their lives.

"You okay Silica?" Leafa asked, causing the catgirl fairy to flinch.

"Oh, yeah. I'm okay." Silica assured her. "Hey Leafa, why didn't you mention that Donis looked like Kirito?"

"Oh that. I guess I just don't really think about it anymore." Leafa answered. "It really surprised me and the others too when we first saw him."

"I'll bet. But don't you think it's just kind of weird?" Silica asked.

"It is pretty weird." Leafa admitted. "But in the end, does it really matter why Donis looks like Kazuto in the game?"

Silica didn't have a good answer for the blonde fairy. She and Pina remained silent for the rest of the trip through the passage. Within a few short minutes, the entire group made it down into K'n-yan. Silica couldn't help but be awed by the magnificent dead city and the blue-lit cavern walls. The whole place was very strange and creepy, but at the same time had a unique beauty all its own. Shortly after arriving in the dead city, all of the other players gathered around Donis.

"Alright. We're still a fairly small guild, and the monsters roaming around Yoth are a bit more powerful than the creatures than the ones here in K'n-yan." Donis began. "Therefore, for today the majority of us will stick to exploring this city. If you encounter any monsters, use them as an opportunity to grind your levels and get adjusted to your new equipment. Meanwhile, Selene will be leading a reconnaissance team down into Yoth to begin mapping the area. That will make it easier for us to explore Yoth once we're all properly ready.

"In the meantime, the rest of use will stick to finding any rare items that might still be here on this level. Remember to bring any tok'l-metal ore or statuary items you might find to Lisbeth so she can use it to forge new equipment later. Now then, let's get to it."

"Silica, you stick close to me and Sinon." Leafa told the dragon tamer. "You're the only one here who doesn't have the equipment the monsters down here are weak against."

The assembled players began to disperse throughout K'n-yan. Selene left with a group of four other imp women for the entrance to Yoth. Silica and Pina tagged along with Leafa and Sinon as they scavenged the dead city for metal items. Every now and then they would run into one of the headless creatures that stalked K'n-yan. Silica found that she was quite impressed with the way Sinon and Leafa were able to dispatch the monsters with only a single shot.

Two and a half hours had gone by, and the trio had ended up collecting a sizable quantity of metal items. They met back up with Lisbeth, who had set up a sort of temporary desk by the door of one of the abandoned buildings.

"Did you guys get a good haul?" Lisbeth asked.

"Yep. You should be pretty well stocked for raw material for a while." Sinon answered.

At that moment, Donis arrived with Aria. "I trust your search was a profitable one."

"And how." Leafa confirmed.

"Hey Donis. If this sort of thing keeps up, we should look into recruiting more blacksmiths into the guild." Lisbeth suggested. "We could turn out equipment a lot faster. Plus it'd free up my time to try and come up with a weapon that can work on normal monsters just as well as it works on the monsters down here."

"Selene and I will look into the matter tomorrow." Donis assured her. "I certainly don't want you to be overworked."

Before the conversation could get any further, Aria let out a startled cry. The six looked and saw three of the black blob monsters that occasionally showed up in the dead cities. All three of them were clustered together in a close formation.

"What the heck are those things?" asked Silica as the color drained from her face.

After issuing a command to her menu screen, Sinon's eyes turned an odd green. The archer pulled her bow tight and aimed the point of her arrow at a spot where the wall of the building they were standing by met the ground.

"Uh, Sinon? The monsters are over there." Lisbeth reminded her.

"Trust me." Sinon coolly told her.

Sinon fired her arrow at the head of it began to glow with a blue light. The arrow vanished into the ground and suddenly came down from the air above the center blob, striking the top of its gelatinous body. In mere seconds the blob's entire body froze into ice. Sinon quickly fired two similar arrows into the same spot, and seconds later they came down from above the two remaining blobs and froze them like the first.

"Ice arrows?" Leafa realized.

"Now! While they're still frozen!" Sinon called.

The three horrid ice sculptures began to tremble as if they black substance inside them was trying to break free. Donis wasted no time and charged forward with both his swords drawn. At the same time, Leafa drew her sword while Lisbeth charged in with her mace. Donis quickly slashed at the center one while Lisbeth began bashing into the one on her left. Meanwhile, Leafa struck the remaining blob with an energy attack from her sword. All three of the blobs were destroyed in a matter of seconds before they could break free of the ice. Silica breathed a heavy sigh of relief as soon as they were gone.

"Sinon, how the heck did you do that thing with the arrows?" Lisbeth asked.

"Oh. It's, um… just something I picked up recently." Sinon answered, looking away with a slight blush on her cheeks. "Anyway, this is the first time I've seen those blob monsters show up as a hoard."

"Indeed. It seems they have been appearing more often lately ever since we defeated Yig, but this is certainly the first hoard that's ever been seen." Donis replied thoughtfully. "This could be an indication of something, but of what I do not know."

"I hope Selene and her team aren't having too much trouble down in Yoth." Aria spoke. "If we're encountering hoard of those blobs, there's a pretty good chance she's running into more of them."

"I'm sure she'll let the rest of us know if she encounters trouble down there." Donis assured her. "Now Aria, I think we should continue our rounds and see how everyone else is doing." With that, Donis and Aria went off towards the entrance into the city.

"So Silica, what do you think of this place?" Lisbeth asked.

"To be honest, I don't think it's for me." Silica answered. "If you guys don't mind, I think I'll be going now."

"That's okay, Silica." Leafa assured her. "You should probably get going now though. At night there's a bigger chance of those headless monsters popping up in the passageway."

Silica quickly said her goodbyes to Leafa and the others and headed back towards the city's entrance. As she and Pina got closer, they heard the sounds of someone being attacked. Silica ran for the entrance, thinking that a monster was attacking another member being of the guild, but she quickly realized that the voice crying out was male. When Silica finally got to the entrance, she saw a male sylph player being attacked by two members of the guild. After being slashed across the chest by one of the guild members, the male player was knocked onto his back.

"What the hell! I was just coming down here to look around!" the male player protested.

"Only guild members are allowed down here." One of the two guild warriors told him. "Those are the orders of our leader, Commander Donis."

"Why you…" the male player began as he prepared to draw his weapon.

"What's going on here?" a voice interrupted. The male player looked back to see Donis approaching with Aria.

"We caught this non-member coming down here while on our patrol." The second guild member answered. "You told us that no one outside the guild besides that girl Leafa brought was allowed down here."

"Do you want us to finish him off?" the first attacker from the guild asked.

"No, that won't be necessary." Donis replied with a cold expression as he stepped forward. "I'll handle this personally."

Donis drew both his swords and advanced on the male player. The non-member fairly swung his sword at Donis, but the Kirito lookalike easily blocked the attack and struck him in the side with the sword in his other hand. Silica watched frozen as Donis repeatedly attacked the male player with the most emotionless expression she had ever seen. In that moment it became clear to the dragon tamer that while Donis certainly looked like Kirito, deep down he wasn't anything like him. There was no possible way that the real Kirito would ever be that merciless.

It wasn't long before the intruding player's HP had dropped to zero and his body had been reduced to a floating ball of green phosphorescent fire. Donis calmly turned around as he sheathed his swords, and with a mere glance he noticed Silica standing just a few feet away.

"Why my dear Silica, I hope I did not frighten you just now with that unfortunate display." Donis told her as he slowly walked up. "You of course are more than welcome to remain here, as you are Leafa's guest."

"Why did you attack that guy like that?" Silica asked. "He only wanted to look around this place."

Donis gave a wave to the two women who had first attacked the male player, signaling them to leave. "It was nothing personal, Silica. It's simply important that my guild establishes a foothold in this new unexplored territory. In time, we will allow other players to start traveling more freely down here, but for right now I'm afraid we must hoard certain resources for ourselves if our order is going to become a power in this world. You are welcome to become a part of this, if you wish."

"No thanks." Silica told him. "I don't know how you got Liz and the others to be a part of all this. But if this is the way you guys run things, I'm not interested."

"Very well then." Donis replied with a cold look in his emerald eyes. "The door is over there. I suggest you use it."

Silica quickly walked past Donis with Pina still perched on her head and went through the doorway. She stopped and glanced back after a few moments and saw Donis standing closely behind Aria, kissing the side of her neck. He whispered something in her ear and the two of them went off into one of the nearby abandoned buildings.

"There's just something not right about all this, Pina." Silica told the little dragon. "I think Kirito should know about this."

Suddenly a holographic screen appeared in front of Silica, notifying her that she had gotten an instant message. The message turned out to be from Asuna, telling her that the battle on Floor 75 was going to begin in less than an hour. Silica realized that she didn't have a moment to loose. She needed to tell Kirito about Donis in person, and soon. There wasn't going to be much of a chance of that during the boss battle. Silica ran through the passage as fast as her legs could carry her and hoped that she could get to New Aincrad in time.

* * *

Please review and let me know what you think.


	9. Return to Floor 75

**Author's Note:** I'd like to take a moment and thank my regular guest review, SuperSaiyanGod53 for his review of the previous chapter. I found it to be very supportive. Anyway, this next chapter ended up being a pretty hard one to write because of the battle scene it contains. I really hope this won't be a disappointment to anyone.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online.

* * *

Chapter 9: Return to Floor 75

Silica ran through the main dungeon of Floor 75 in New Aincrad with Pina trailing behind her. The dragon tamer's footsteps echoed through the hallow corridors as she raced to make it to the raiding party in time. Silica needed to tell Kirito and Asuna about Donis before they entered the boss room. She knew that the battle against that boss was important to them, but it was even more important that they knew about Donis and the sinister actions of his guild. It was especially vital that they knew with Leafa, Lisbeth and Sinon involved.

At long last, Silica and Pina finally reached to the massive army of players that had been assembled to fight the boss. The one leading the assault was at that moment addressing all the other players. Silica began to look for any signs of Asuna and Kirito in the massive crowed. When she couldn't find them from the outside, Silica began to squeeze in between players to make her way into the large army. Before Silica and Pina could get in very far, the army suddenly began to move forward.

Silica and Pina were pulled along with the stampeding army as if a massive ocean current was dragging them off. Before Silica could figure out what was happening, the army dispersed and Silica was dropped to the floor. She could hear a loud thumping noise seconds later as if a massive door had just been closed.

"Silica?" a familiar voice spoke.

Silica opened her eyes and looked up to find a concerned Asuna standing over her. Standing next to the blue-haired girl was a tall and rather young-looking woman with very fair skin and pale-blue hair. Silica recognized this woman as Asuna's friend from the Sleeping Knights guild, Siune.

"Oh wow! I am so glad I finally got to you, Asuna." Silica told her with a relieved sigh. "There's something important I need to tell you and Kirito, and I needed to do it before you went in to fight the boss."

"But Silica, we're in the boss room right now." Asuna told her. "The boss should be showing up any second now."

All the color drained from Silica's face. "So… I'm in the middle of a boss fight right now?"

Suddenly several red embers lit up in the center of the cylindrical room and began to gather together into a massive fireball. The fireball exploded to reveal the skeleton of a bipedal dragon with long powerful legs and three skeletal heads, each at the end of a long bony neck. The living dragon skeleton lacked arms, and in their place was a large pair of off-white bat-like wings with holes in the membrane of skin on each one. The eye sockets of each skull burned with an eerie red light, and a large red crystal could be seen inside the dragon's ribcage. Four HP gauges appeared next to the dragon, and above its three heads floated the name, "Skull King Dragon".

"Asuna, is this the same boss of this floor in the original SAO version?" a somewhat terrified Siune asked.

"No, this thing is like ten times worse." Asuna answered calmly. "Silica, it might be a good idea for you and Pina to stay over here with us."

In seconds, a squadron of salamander mages in red hooded robes began to surround the skeletal dragon. As Silica watched the unfolding battle, she could see Kirito on the front lines with his old friends, Klein and Agil. In one of his hands, the black swordsman was holding the legendary sword, Excalibur. The presence of that sword alone illustrated to Silica how difficult the battle was going to be. The dragon opened its jaws and fired a stream of crimson flames from each head.

The hooded mages chanted spells that managed to block parts of the attack with invisible barriers. Kirito then charged in with several other frontline players to begin the counterattack. When he came in range, Kirito began hacking away at one of the dragon's legs with Excalibur and the black sword he was holding in his other hand, while Klein and Agil attacked the other leg. The living skeleton's first HP gauge began to drop from the hits it was taking from all the attacking players, albeit slowly. Meanwhile, the mages had begun pelting the creature with a barrage of fireballs.

Suddenly the dragon began to swing its massive bony tail, knocking down some of the mages as well as a few of the attacking players. Kirito and most of the other attackers managed to duck down to the ground before they could get hit. After the attack, Kirito fell back and allowed some other players continue the attack. Suddenly the dragon's ribcage began to swing open, revealing the red crystal inside. The crystal crackled with red electricity and fired a powerful beam of crimson energy at the surrounding army of players.

The raiding party scattered to avoid the blast, but many players ended up getting hit. The attack had reduced their HP gauges to red slivers.

"I take it back. This thing's more like twenty times worse than the Skull Reaper." Asuna remarked.

"This was a bad idea for me to come here!" a freaked out Silica declared. "I should've just sent you or Kirito an IM!"

"Calm down, Silica." Asuna told her. "You can just stay back here and focus on giving the others support with me and Siune. The important thing right now is to just keep a level head. This is going to be a long battle."

The dragon began to spew streams of flame from its three heads all directions. One of the attacks struck most of the already badly damaged players, dropping their HP to zero. The bodies of the fallen players had been reduced to floating balls of fire. Asuna, Siune and all the other undine players who were part of the raiding party quickly began to cast healing spells on every player that had taken damage. The attack resumed, with the majority of the players sticking to attacking the dragon's sides in order to avoid getting hit by its ultimate attack.

Silica felt totally helpless as the battle raged on around her. There was absolutely nothing that either she or Pina could do to help against such a boss as powerful as that dragon. The undead dragon was totally out of their league, and Silica knew it. It would've taken her at least months to be able to help take on a boss-level monster that strong. All that the dragon tamer could really do was watch and pray that Kirito and the others could win.

Hours seemed to go by as the battle against the Skull King Dragon continued. Eventually the dragon only had a quarter of its final health bar remaining. At the same time though, a little over half of the raiding party had been lost. Just as Kirito and the others fell back, the skeleton dragon's rib cage opened and it fired another blast of energy in the direction of Asuna and the others. Asuna and the rest quickly managed to evade the blast before it could hit them. As they got up, Siune watched closely as the ribcage of the dragon closed back up.

"Wait a minute. Asuna, do you remember that boss we fought against together with Yuuki?" Sinue asked. "How it had that weak spot that it kept protecting with its arms?"

"How could I forget?" Asuna replied. "Wait. Do you think that the crystal that dragon uses for its attack it a weak point?"

"It has to be." Siune told her. "Otherwise this boss would be too overpowered."

"Okay. I'll take care of it." Asuna decided. And with that, her rapier appeared at the side of her waist. "You stay back here with Silica and provide all the support you can."

Asuna dashed off to where Kirito had fallen back to with Agil and Klein to take a small breather from the battle. The small dark-haired navigation pixie that was Kirito and Asuna's adopted daughter, Yui alerted to Kirito to Asuna's presence.

"I think I might know what that dragon's weakness is." Asuna told Kirito and the others. "Siune thinks that the crystal in its chest is its heart."

"You mean the same crystal it uses for its death ray attack?" Klein asked.

"That's not an easy spot to get to." Agil pointed out. "Those ribs the dragon has are pretty impenetrable."

"Yeah, and going at it when its firing that thing would be suicide." Klein added. "There's no way we could survive if we ran headlong into that beam."

"But there is a way." Kirito told them. "It takes a little bit for those ribs to close after the dragon fires."

"That's are chance to get at the crystal." Asuna confirmed. "All we need to do is wait until after it fires again."

"The dragon fires its crystal right after it swings its tail." Yui informed the group. "It shouldn't be too much longer before that attack comes."

"Then we'll wait here until after it fires and move in." Kirito decided. "Agil, we'll need you to help give me and Asuna a boost to get to the crystal."

"You got it!" Agil replied with a thumbs-up.

The five waited and watched as the rest of the raiding party threw what it had at the dragon. At long last, the dragon swung its tail and fired its ultimate death weapon. Only a small chunk of the raiding party had been taken out by the attack. As soon as the attack ended, Asuna charged in with Kirito and Agil. Agil kneeled down in front of the dragon as its ribs began to close up, and Asuna used him as a springboard to launch herself into the air with her sword raised.

As soon as she came in range, Asuna struck the dragon's large crystalline heart with eleven strikes from her sword, with the eleventh hit being the most powerful. Cracks formed all over the dragon's heart and its remaining HP gauge became a red sliver.

At that moment, a tear rolled down Suine's cheek. "That… that move. It's Mother's Rosario."

The dragon's ribs began to close shut, but only a split second after Asuna began to drop to the ground Kirito had jumped in and stabbed the red crystal with Excalibur. The dragon's HP dropped to zero and its crystal heart shattered into tiny crimson shards. The light from the beast's eye sockets burned out, and its skeletal body collapsed into a pile of bones before shattering into blue polygons. The giant message of congratulations appeared in the middle of the room, and most of the remaining members of the raiding party all cheered.

"Thanks, Yuuki." Asuna whispered to her sword before putting it away.

Kirito put his hand on Asuna's shoulder. "Let's go and see what's on that next floor."

Kirito and his friends were the first to pass through the door that had appeared on the other side of the boss room after the dragon had been defeated. After going up a small staircase, they had emerged at the bottom of a rock canyon made of brown stone. A star-filled night sky was twinkling above them.

"You know, after all the trouble we went to I was expecting this place to be a little prettier." Klein remarked as he looked around.

"I'm sure there's a lot more to this place than just this canyon." Kirito responded. "But I can't help but wonder if this is what the seventy-sixth floor of the original Aincrad looked like."

"We'll probably never know." Asuna told him. "So, get any good item from that skull dragon? You were the last one to attack it, after all."

"Oh yeah. I did get some kind of item." Kirito recalled, remembering the window that had appeared in front of him after the last attack. "I think it's supposed to be some kind of sword."

Kirito put back his one black sword and replaced it with the weapon he had gotten from the battle. The weapon was indeed a sword, and an impressive-looking one at that. The blade was a dark grey and had a small point on each side. Engraved down the middle of the blade were words written in a language that Kirito could not identify. The small carving of what appeared to be a cow skull adorned the crossguard.

"Not a bad-looking weapon." Klein remarked as Kirito swung with one hand to test it. "What's it called?"

"The Master's Blade." Kirito answered. "The item's description said that it was supposed to have been forged by the father of some barbarian king who lived thousands of years ago."

"It's certainly not an item I've never heard of." Agil remarked. "I wonder how strong it is?"

Kirito looked at the sword and held it out in front of him to the side. He then drew Excalibur and brought the golden blade down hard his new weapon. There was a hard clanging noise of metal on metal, but the sword that was the Master's Blade was unharmed.

"No way!" a stunned Kirito exclaimed. "I think this sword might be as strong as Excalibur."

"Is that even possible?" Siune asked. "I thought Excalibur was supposed to be the most powerful sword in the game."

"I guess it would kinda make sense for the designers to release a few weapons to match ones like Excalibur and Mjolnir." Agil theorized. "Still, there's something that seems a little weird about all this. From what little I heard, there weren't even supposed to be any drop items from the last attack on this boss."

"Maybe we should have Liz take a look at the sword to see if she can find out anything about it." Asuna suggested.

With the mention of Lisbeth's name, Silica suddenly remembered something very important. "Guys! With all that was happening in the boss fight, I forgot what I came to tell you! It's about Liz, Leafa and Sinon?"

"What about them?" Kirito asked.

"They've joined up with this guild. A bad one." Silica explained. "The guild's called The Order of Yig."

"Oh yeah, that new guild that's been raiding that weird mound in imp territory for the last few weeks." Klein recalled. "I've been overhearing things about them from some of the other players. They're like some kind of all-girl group, except for some pretty-boy leader who's supposed to have started the whole thing."

"I've been hearing rumors about that guild too, and none of it's good." Agil recalled. "The word is that they've been treating that guild like it's their own personal territory and hoarding all the resources for themselves. I guess it's not that big a deal since this isn't SAO, but still…"

"And you're saying that Liz and the others are a part of this guild?" Asuna asked Silica.

"Yeah, but I don't think they know about the real nasty stuff that goes on." Silica confirmed. "But they invited me along on a raid this afternoon to show me what the guild was like, and I ended up seeing the normal way they treat outside players."

"This guild doesn't seem like anything that Leafa and the others would be a part of." Asuna remarked.

"I know." Kirito agreed. "Sinon was a part of a guild of PKers back when she played GGO, but that was ages ago. And I certainly can't see Sugu being part of a guild like that."

"There's something else you really need to know, Kirito." Silica continued. "It's the guild's leader, Donis. He looks exactly like you."

Kirito paused upon hearing this. "What do you mean exactly like me?"

"Well, he has blonde hair and green eyes, probably because he's playing as a sylph. But still, he could be your long lost twin brother." Silica explained. "He even has your voice, but with some fancy accent."

"Are you yanking our chain, Silica?" Klein asked. "How is it even possible for someone in this game to look exactly like Kirito?"

"Maybe we should pay a visit to the guild's headquarters after we activate the warp gate here." Kirito suggested. "I'd like to meet this Donis for myself."

* * *

Leafa was standing outside of a two-story building made of stone brick that looked like it could've been some kind of tavern or beer hall and looking up at the sky. The crest of the Order of Yig was painted on a wooden sign by the door, indicating that it was the guild's headquarters. At that moment, Lisbeth came out of the building to join her.

"I can guess what's on your mind." Lisbeth spoke, shaking Leafa from her thoughts. "You're wondering how the boss fight on Floor 75 is going, right?"

"Ever since you got that message from Asuna saying that the battle was on." Leafa confirmed. "I hope Kazuto's doing well."

"I'm sure he's doing great." Lisbeth assured her as she put a hand on the blonde's shoulder. "Now c'mon. Donis and the others are starting to wonder where you went off to."

Just as the two were about to go back inside, Kirito landed before them. Asuna and the others landed a few feet behind him.

"Kazuto!" Leafa enthusiastically greeted.

"Hail the conquering heroes!" Lisbeth cheered as she and Leafa walked up. "So you kicked that boss's butt, right?"

"Where's Donis?" Kirito asked with a very serious expression.

Lisbeth glanced beyond Kirito to Silica and saw the concerned expression on the dragon tamer's face. "Oh boy. I'm guessing that Silica told you what Donis looks like, huh?"

"And a few other things." Kirito confirmed. "Now where is he?"

"What's going on out here?" a familiar voice cut in.

Kirito and the others saw Donis emerge from the headquarters. The black swordsman's jaw dropped upon seeing how closely his gold doppelganger resembled him. Asuna and the others were just as stunned.

Donis noticed Kirito and smirked. "Well, you must be Kirito. It's nice to finally meet you."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I hope the battle against the Floor 75 boss wasn't a letdown for anyone. I find that I still have trouble writing really large-scale battle scenes involving armies of characters. I think that's the main reason why I put that little series of Gundam SEED fanfics I was doing once on sort of a permanent hiatus. Anyway, the new sword Kirito wound up with in this chapter is based on the sword that appeared in the original 1970s version of the movie, _Conan the Barbarian_. The movie was on AMC the other afternoon while I was writing the battle against Yig, and while I was taking a break from that chapter I decided to have Kirito use something like the sword that was forged during the opening credits. I had always planned on having Kirito wind up with another sword from that boss fight, but originally it was going to be based more on the dragon itself.

Having Kirito use this new sword is actually pretty appropriate for two reasons. The first is that the soundtrack to the original Conan movie had served me as a source of inspiration when I was writing _Monster World Online_. The second reason is that when I had looked up the character of Conan on Wikipedia to see if that sword had a name, I had discovered that the original author who had come up with Conan had corresponded regularly with H.P. Lovecraft. And as a result of this correspondence, some of the creatures from Lovecraft's work had made cameo appearances in some of the original Conan stories. Therefore, it could be argued that Conan is part of Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, which this story has been drawing from.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	10. Gold On Black

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online (or the works of H.P. Lovecraft).

* * *

Chapter 10: Gold On Black

"Leafa and the others were not exaggerating." Donis told Kirito. "The resemblance between us is quite uncanny."

"I'll say." Kirito agreed. "It's funny though. When my sister mentioned you to me, she didn't say anything about how much we look alike."

"I'm sorry, Kazuto." An apologetic Leafa told him. "I wasn't sure how you'd react if you knew."

"We were planning to tell you, Kirito." Lisbeth added. "It's just that there wasn't a good time with everything we had going on. Plus you've been pretty unreachable."

"Why don't we take this discussion inside?" Donis suggested.

With that, Kirito and the others entered the headquarters of the Order of Yig. The inside proved to be what it appeared to be on the outside, which was a large tavern with a very high ceiling. Towards the back of a building was a staircase leading to a second story. The tables were filled with the members of Donis's guild, and Sinon was at the bar talking with Selene and Aria. Almost as soon as Kirito entered the building though, every eye in the place fell on him and Donis.

"What the… since when does Donis have a twin brother?" Selene asked at the bar.

"Whoever that person is, he doesn't look all that happy." Aria noted.

"Oh great!" Sinon sighed. "I knew this was going to happen sooner or later."

"You and I should probably talk." Kirito told Donis.

"Indeed. But if you don't mind, I'd like to have such a discussion in private." Donis requested. "We can use the meeting room upstairs."

"…Fine." Kirito agreed. "Yui, you wait here with Asuna."

"Okay daddy." Yui agreed before flying off Kirito's shoulder.

Kirito silently followed Donis upstairs. In a few moments they were in a small room with a polished wood floor and a large window at the opposite end. The only pieces of furniture in the room were a long rectangular table with five chairs, and decorating the walls on the left and right were banners depicting the guild's symbol.

"From your expression, I can tell that you're not pleased with me." Donis noted. "That's why I thought we should talk things over in a more… intimate setting."

"Are you afraid of my sister and the rest of my friends finding out what you're actually like?" Kirito asked.

Donis chuckled and shook his head. "I can see little Silica must have painted a rather unflattering picture of me. You must think me some sort of tyrant to have my guild insist on exclusive use of the dungeons of K'n-yan and Yoth. I'm afraid it is necessary at the moment. My guild is still quite new and those dungeons are still very unexplored. Not only that, some of the metal that our dear Lisbeth needs for forging the proper equipment for those dungeons can be a little hard to find at times. That's why for the time being the Order of Yig must do everything in its power to keep those resources to ourselves."

"I'm not buying it." Kirito told him. "At least not entirely. I may have been busy with other stuff for the past few weeks, but I have been hearing things about those weird metal weapons you guys are using. Everything I've heard tells me that those weapons are only effective of the monsters living in those underground dungeons. Against just about every other kind of monster in ALO, those weapons are about as good as low-level battle gear. I can see only one reason why you'd have your guild hoard those dungeons to yourselves. You're looking for something down there, aren't you?"

"You are a shrewd one, Kirito." Donis praised as he leaned against the side of the table. "I suppose there's no harm in letting you in on my true objective. There is something specific down in those dungeons that I am seeking. It is said that down in those underground kingdoms is a portal to another domain, the Plateau of Leng. Unfortunately, I have yet to discover the portal's exact location, and I've certainly not had any success on my own."

"That's why you formed the guild." Kirito realized. "You're using it to find that portal for you."

"And to keep anyone else from finding it before me." Donis added. "I intend to be the first to set foot on Leng."

"Why? So you can make a name for yourself?" Kirito asked.

"…Perhaps." Donis answered with an ominous smirk. "In any case, I'm sure you can understand the reasons for my actions."

"I do, but that doesn't mean I'm cool with it." Kirito told him. "The fact is I don't trust you. You're up to something, and you're using my friends and my sister for whatever it is. I don't to see you taking advantage of them."

"Well then… it appears we've reached an impasse with mere conversation." Donis observed. "Therefore, I think we should try and settle our differences with a duel. I've heard that you also fight using two swords, so a battle between us would be most interesting."

"Fine with me." Kirito agreed. "When do you want to do this?"

"There's no time like the present, old boy." Donis answered. "We'll go out front and let everyone here watch."

"Okay then." Kirito agreed.

"It should be quite the show." Donis remarked as he headed for the door. "I wonder which of us Leafa, Lisbeth and Sinon will root for?"

* * *

Asuna was sitting at a table with Yui perched on her shoulder, looking up at the staircase that Kirito and Donis had disappeared up. The blunette couldn't help but wonder about what Kirito and his doppelgänger were talking about. Leafa, Lisbeth and Sinon were sitting across from Asuna at the large round table with Aria and Selene. Silica and Siune had meanwhile taken the seats on Asuna's left, while Klein and Agil had taken the seats on her right. An awkward silence had been hanging over the group since they had sat down.

"Well… this is awkward." Lisbeth remarked, finally breaking the silence.

"How come you didn't tell us about this?" Asuna asked in a somewhat hostile tone.

"Mainly because we were afraid that you and Kirito might overreact." Lisbeth answered. "Which you kinda are, by the way."

"It is pretty strange that Mr. Donis looks like your friend in this game." Aria admitted.

"No kidding." Selene agreed. "And that Kirito guy is the one who nabbed Excalibur, right? What're the odds of that?"

"Donis looking like Kirito isn't the only thing that's wrong here." Silica interjected. "Liz, do you, Leafa and Sinon know about some of the things that this guild has been up to? I saw Donis take out a player who entered K'n-yan just because he wasn't a member of the guild."

"Yeah, we know about that stuff." Sinon revealed, surprising the dragon tamer.

"And the three of you are really okay with that kind of thing?" Asuna asked.

"It may not be very pleasant, but I understand why Donis is taking such drastic measures." Lisbeth replied. "Our guild is only just starting to build itself up, so we kinda need to protect what we have. Besides, it's not like this is SAO where a player getting killed here means death IRL."

"She's right." Selene agreed. "I don't know anything about the whole SAO thing like some of you guys do, but it seems like you're taking all this way too seriously."

"It's not about the PKing." Agil told them. "It's never cool when a guild tries to hoard a location for its resources, especially when it's a location like those underground dungeons you've been hanging out in. Besides, there's something kinda fishy about this whole operation to me."

"I agree. That Donis guy seems kinda shady." Klein declared. "I mean it's weird the way he looks so much like Kirito in this game."

"You guys are being way too suspicious." Leafa told them. "You don't know Donis the way we do."

"Leafa, we're not accusing Donis of anything." Siune assured her. "We're just a little bit concerned."

At long last, Kirito and Donis came back down the stairs. Asuna and the others rose from their seats as soon as they arrived.

"Everyone, if I may have your attention please!" Donis spoke, causing everyone else in the room to look. "Kirito and I are going to go out front to have a little duel. Everyone is of course welcome to come watch."

Asuna quickly walked up to Kirito. "You're actually going to duel him? Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"I want to see what this guy's made of." Kirito told her. "Besides, I don't think there's any way we can settle this by talking."

In moments everyone had gone out to the clearing out in front of the guild's headquarters. A very loose circle of spectators had formed around Kirito and Donis as they prepared to face off.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to keep this duel on the ground." Donis requested. "A midair battle might get a little out of control."

"Fine, but I'm not going to hold anything else back." Kirito told him.

Kirito accessed his menu screen and reequipped himself with Excalibur and the Master's Blade. Donis issued the challenge to duel, which Kirito accepted. The two swordsmen drew their blades and waited for the countdown clock that had appeared above them to reach zero. Once it did, Kirito and Donis charged at each other and began to swing. The air became filled with the sounds of metal hitting metal as both combatants managed block the other's blades.

"This is the wildest thing I've ever seen." Klein declared. "They don't just look alike. They fight alike too. It's like Kirito's fighting a mirror image of himself."

Neither Kirito nor Donis had managed to land a blow as the timer for the duel counted out. One thing Kirito did manage to accomplish though was push Donis back.

"You can do it, Donis!" Leafa called.

Kirito was taken aback a bit by what Leafa had just said. Donis saw the opening cut into Kirito six times in the chest. The black swordsman's HP gauge dropped to almost nearly half of what it originally was.

"You shouldn't have let your guard down like that, old boy." Donis told him. "The second you take your focus off the opponent is the second you lose!"

Kirito quickly regained his composure and managed to block the next few attacks from Donis. This time though, it was Kirito who was pushed back by his golden counterpart. As the battle raged on, Kirito noticed how every member of the guild was cheering for Donis, including Leafa, Sinon and Lisbeth. The clock for the duel was continuing to count down, and Kirito hadn't been able to land a single blow on Donis. The black swordsman knew that if he couldn't change the tide of the battle soon, he would lose.

At last Kirito saw an opening and cut into Donis's left side with the Master's Blade. Upon being hit, Donis cried out and his entire body seemed to change to an inverted color scheme from what it normally was for a moment. At the same time, the gold swordsman's HP took a sharp drop.

"What the hell was that?" Klein wondered.

"Looks like that new sword of Kirito's packs a real punch." Agil observed.

Donis appeared to be stunned by the strike from the Master's Blade. Kirito took the opportunity and hit Donis with Excalibur. He struck Donis with the Master's Blade again and took off another large chunk of HP. The same strange color inversion happened again to Donis when he was hit by Kirito's new weapon. With two more hits from Kirito, Donis' HP dropped down into the red zone. The timer for the duel ran out and Kirito was declared the winner. Donis fell to his knees as Kirito sheathed his two swords.

Leafa ran to the center of the battlefield with Sinon and Lisbeth following close behind. Rather than run up to Kirito though, the three ran to Donis's side and helped him to his feet.

"Are you okay?" a concerned Leafa asked him. "The attacks from that sword seemed like they hurt."

"I'm fine." Donis assured her. "Though I think that perhaps I should retire for the evening."

With that, Donis accessed his menu and flashed with a blue light. Leafa, Sinon and Lisbeth all turned to glare at Kirito.

"Jeez, Kirito! Couldn't you have pulled your punches just a little?" Lisbeth asked him.

"We get that you don't like some of the things that Donis has done since forming the guild, but you were way too hard on him in that duel!" Sinon told him. "What kind of attack did you use on him in that duel anyway?"

"Hey! Don't you guys think you're overacting a little?" Kirito responded.

"Us? What about you?" Leafa shot back. "You don't even know Donis and you've already judged him!"

"Look, why don't we just all calm down and talk about this." Kirito requested.

"There's nothing to talk about!" Leafa told him.

Before Kirito could respond, Leafa, Sinon and Lisbeth all logged out. The rest of the guild members either logged out as well or flew off into the sky, but not before giving Kirito a dirty look. Kirito sighed as soon as it was down to him and his friends outside the headquarters.

Asuna walked up to Kirito and put a hand on his shoulder. "You okay?"

"I think so." Kirito answered. "It's just… Sugu's never turned against me like that. I guess it's kinda getting to me."

"I have a feeling I know why she reacted like that." Asuna sighed.

"Yeah, I think I've got a pretty good idea about that too." Kirito replied.

"Who knows how that battle could've gone if Kirito didn't have that new sword?" Agil remarked. "It's just like Klein said. Donis seems like he's a mirror image of Kirito, not only in his looks but in his moves."

"They both look like each other, they both fight using two swords, and they both have similar moves." Siune spoke. "What are the chances of that?"

"Yui, what do you think about all this?" Asuna asked. "You've been pretty quiet ever since we first saw Donis."

"I've been trying to figure out what to make of him." Yui answered. "There's just something… odd about Donis that I can't really figure out at the moment. But as far as his avatar goes… I'm not completely positive at the moment, but he seems to have almost exactly the same stats as daddy."

"The same stats? Are you sure?" a surprised Klein asked.

"There do seem to be a few small differences due to the race Donis chose to play the game as and some of his equipment, but his and daddy's stats seem to be almost exactly the same." Yui answered. "It's almost as if someone copied daddy's avatar and made a few alterations to it."

"That's the only thing this could be." Kirito agreed. "Sugu asked me around the same time she first met Donis what the chances are of a person's avatar looking like another player's in the game if they set their appearance settings to random. There's a small chance that an avatar with random appearance settings might have a very close resemblance, but there's no way that those two avatars would look exactly alike the way Donis and I do."

"So wait. Are you saying that Donis somehow hacked the game and copied your avatar data?" Asuna asked. "Why would anyone do that?"

"More importantly, how would anyone be able to do that?" Agil asked. "ALO is supposed to have top digital security."

"I know one person who might be able to give us some answers." Kirito replied. "I'll contact him tomorrow. For now though, we should probably log out for the night. It's pretty late."

"We'll catch you guys later then." Klein replied.

* * *

Kirito and Asuna had returned to New Aincrad with Yui to log out from their little cabin. As they made their way down the dirt path to their little home away from home, they spotted a figure sitting on a large rock up ahead of them. He was covered in a hooded robe that was colored a deep burgundy, and in his right hand he held a large gnarled wooden staff. A long snow-white beard hung down from the figure's hood, indicating that he was an old man. Kirito and Asuna looked to one another before approaching him.

"Excuse me." Kirito spoke, causing the old man to look.

The old man got up from his rock and looked Kirito over carefully as if to study him. Kirito couldn't tell for sure because of the old man's hood, but it seemed like he was missing his left eye.

"So… you are the fairy warrior who claimed the Master's Blade from the Dragon Skull King." The old man spoke. "I knew you would be here eventually."

"Daddy, this man's an NPC." Yui whispered into Kirito's ear. "But he's connected to the language database."

"So he's an A.I. like the NPCs in the Excalibur quest." Kirito whispered back. He turned his attention back to the old man. "Who are you?"

"Oh… I am merely a traveler." The old man answered. "But I have come here this night, swordsman to give you a warning. Beware the Crawling Chaos. Beware the Sleeper of N'kai."

"The Sleeper of N'kai?" Kirito repeated with a quirked brow. "Who or what is that?"

"A great battle is drawing near." The Traveler continued. "This realm has been invaded by gods who do not belong. If nothing is done, they will turn this world into one of endless chaos and madness. You are the one who wields the Master's Blade, which means you are the only one who can drive the invading gods from this land."

"What exactly is going to happen?" Kirito asked.

The Traveler simply walked past Kirito and Asuna. "It will begin when the door to N'kai is opened and the Sleeper's spawn begin to rise from the accursed mound. Be prepared for that day, noble fairy. Your sword will be needed then."

Kirito and Asuna watched the Traveler as he walked away. Before they could attempt to go after him, he was swallowed up into the night.

"What was all that about?" Asuna wondered.

"Yui said he was an NPC." Kirito explained. "But it's weird that he didn't assign a quest or anything."

"Maybe you somehow activated a quest when you obtained the Master's Blade." Yui theorized.

"I've never heard of a drop item from a boss battle activating a quest before." Asuna spoke.

"I never have either." Kirito replied. "There's something really weird happening with this game. And whatever it is, I think we better figure it out soon."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Originally I had planned on having the duel between Kirito and Donis end in a draw, but I decided that a draw wouldn't make sense with Kirito being armed with such powerful swords. Of course in the end, Kirito still kind of lost. Anyway, I did a little bit of foreshadowing at the end of this chapter. I actually hope that I didn't give a way too much though.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	11. Door to the Dark

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online (or the works of H.P. Lovecraft).

* * *

Chapter 11: Door to the Dark

It was close to breakfast time as Kazuto waited in the kitchen for Suguha to come down from her room. He needed to have a serious talk with her about Donis. Kazuto had already contacted Kikuoka Seijiro, the government who had previously questioned him about the events of SAO and recruited him to investigate the Death Gun incident in GGO. The government agent wasn't exactly Kazuto's favorite person to deal with, but the dark-haired young man believed that if anyone could find out if his character data had been hacked, Kikuoka was the man to do it. Besides, Kazuto felt that Kikuoka owed him a bit.

At long last, Suguha came down into the kitchen. Kazuto took a deep breath and tried to prepare for what he was sure would be a difficult conversation.

"If you're going to apologize for what happened with Donis last night, now would be a good time to do it." Suguha told him.

"I'm not going to apologize for what happened." Kazuto responded. "In fact, Sugu… I want you to stay away from Donis."

"You have no right to tell me who I can and can't see!" Suguha snapped.

"Sugu, I'm pretty sure that the reason Donis looks so much like me in ALO is because he somehow hacked and copied my character data." Kazuto explained. "He looks too much like me for it to be some odd coincidence caused by random appearance settings, and Yui's pretty sure that his stats are almost exactly the same as mine. There's no way all of that can be chalked up to a coincidence."

"You don't know what you're talking about." Suguha told him. "I can't believe you, Kazuto! You don't even know Donis and you're already judging him!"

"You don't know who he is either!" Kazuto pointed out a little more forcefully than he wanted to. "He's using my face in ALO, and there's no way he could've gotten it without hacking the game. You may think you know who Donis is, Sugu, but it's pretty obvious that he's lying to you."

"You're wrong about Donis." Suguha insisted. "And I'm going to keep seeing him weather you like it or not!"

With that, Suguha picked up her school bag and headed for the door. Kazuto attempted to go after her, but she slammed the door in his face before he could stop her. The dark-haired young man let out a heavy defeated sigh and went back to the kitchen table. Kazuto knew he had blown it, but then he knew that the conversation was going to be a doomed effort from the beginning. He had a pretty good idea of how Suguha felt about Donis, and simply telling her to stay away from him wasn't going to be nearly enough to solve the problem.

* * *

It was midday as Asuna went to the roof of the school. As she had expected, she found Kazuto sitting in his usual spot looking at the sky through the chain link fence. Asuna put a hand on Kazuto's shoulder to get his attention and sat down next to him.

"Bet I can guess what's got you down." Asuna spoke. "You tried talking to Suguha about Donis, didn't you?"

"Yeah… she pretty much shot me down." Kazuto replied.

"I had a pretty similar conversation with Rika earlier at lunch." Asuna revealed. "It's probably a safe bet that would won't get anywhere talking with Shino either."

"I don't think I've ever had this bad of an argument with Sugu before." Kazuto declared. "She just doesn't want to listen to me."

"I think we both know why." Asuna told him. "Suguha's in love with Donis. I'm betting it's partly because he looks so much like you in-game."

Kazuto merely nodded in agreement. Asuna had pretty much hit the nail on the head. He knew very well that he had been Suguha's first love. And since they were actually just cousins instead of brother and sister, Suguha had once thought that they might've had something more than a sibling relationship at one time because of that fact. But of course that had simply not been the case, as Kazuto had found Asuna. Kazuto mused that it was natural for Suguha to fall for someone who appeared to be a carbon copy of him, at least in an online game.

"I can understand Suguha's reaction." Asuna continued. "There's nothing that makes a girl want to be with someone she likes more than having her family disapprove of him."

"Your dad seems to like me pretty well." Kazuto remarked.

"Yeah, well after the last guy he tried to set me up with, he kinda decided that I was probably a better judge of who I should be with." Asuna replied. "Anyway, the only way we can get through to Suguha and the others is to show Donis for who he really is. The problem is we have no idea how to do that."

"There might be a way." Kazuto told her. "I called Kikuoka this morning to ask him to do some digging. I figured he owed us that much"

"How long until we hear back from him?" Asuna asked.

"He said it'd probably be a day or two." Kazuto answered. "I'm betting that the sooner we hear back from him though, the better."

* * *

Leafa was lying on her bed completely nude as Donis left a trail of fiery kisses down her stomach. When he finally reached her waist, the Kirito lookalike gently pulled her legs apart. Leafa took a breath as Donis moved in towards her crotch. In mere moments, Donis began to probe Leafa's womanhood with his tongue, causing her to moan and her eyes to shoot wide open. The blonde fairy arched her back and dug her fingers into the sheets as Donis continued to explore her.

As Leafa slowly began to come closer to the edge, she leaned up a bit and grabbed onto the back of Donis's head, letting her buck her hips to speed herself towards orgasm. Then at long last, Leafa climaxed, crying out Donis's name at the top of her lungs. As Leafa caught her breath, Donis crawled back onto the bed next to her. Leafa rolled onto her side to face him.

"…I got an IM from Selene earlier this morning." Donis spoke after a few moments. "She and her survey team found the entrance into the final underground dungeon beneath Yoth."

"That's the dungeon called N'kai, right?" Leafa recalled as she sat up a little. "I remember Sinon talking about it before."

"Sinon mentioned something she found regarding N'kai while examining the Necronomicon the other day." Donis informed her. "It seems that in in the deepest part of than dungeon, there's a portal that can take someone to another realm called Leng. I'm quite curious to explore that realm."

"But isn't N'kai supposed to be inhabited by some kind of evil god?" Leafa pointed out. "Whatever that god is, it's probably going to be some very powerful boss monster."

"I am more than willing to take the risk if you are, dearest Leafa." Donis replied. "I'd like you to travel to Leng with me. We could be the first people to explore that realm, just the two of us. Will you come with me?"

"Well… okay. Why not?" Leafa replied. "Sounds like a blast."

Donis smirked and gently stroked Leafa's cheek. "I knew that would be your answer. We'll go there during our next raid into the mound tomorrow afternoon."

With that, the two of them became locked in another deep open-mouthed kiss. The two of them rolled on the bed together until Leafa was on top. The blonde sat up and repositioned herself, moaning a bit as Donis's already hardened manhood slid into her. Leafa gently began to rock her hips at a slow pace, trying to draw out the experience for as long as possible. Over time though, Leafa gradually picked up the pace.

The force of Leafa's movements caused the legs of the bed to creek against the floorboards of the room. Eventually Leafa grabbed hold of the headboard to get more leverage. The blonde fairy's inner walls began to tighten around Donis's rod. Donis began to buck his hips into Leafa from underneath as best he could, and then at last they came to a hard climax in the same sweet moment. Leafa collapsed onto Donis, her body covered in sweat. Donis stroked Leafa's hair as she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Donis and Leafa walked together down the main street of the red lit kingdom of Yoth until them came to a small building made of black stone on the farthest end of the city. The building appeared to be some kind of temple, but the architecture was far more primitive than all the other buildings in Yoth. The thought occurred to Leafa that they might be looking at the oldest building in the dungeon. Selene and two imp women were waiting in front of the building's entrance.

"I trust you have not been waiting long, Selene." Donis spoke as he and Leafa approached.

"My girls and I have only been here a couple hours." Selene told him. "I gotta say though that I'm a little nervous about being down here. There have been more and more of those blob things popping up down here. The hoards are getting as big as at least six blobs at a time."

"What's causing the encounter rate for those things to go up?" Leafa wondered.

"If I had to guess, I'd say that maybe we triggered some kind of game event that we don't know about." Selene theorized. "Hell. For all we know, it could've been something that was triggered when the door into Yoth was opened. Either way, these trips down into Yoth have been getting kinda dangerous. Who knows what the hell we'll find down in N'kai? So are you sure you want to open the door to that place, Donis?"

"I'm certain that the rewards will outweigh the risks." Donis confidently answered. "Now, you said the door to N'kai in this little temple?"

"Yeah, and it's a creepy temple." Selene replied. "I didn't even try going down the staircase to the door."

"Well then. Let's see what there is to see." Donis decided.

With that, Selene led Donis and Leafa into the temple. Strange black vines covered the walls inside, and the only thing in the little square chamber was the doorway to a staircase on the opposite wall. Carved into the archway at the top of the door was a small statuary figure of a revolting frog-like creature with bat-like ears. Leafa couldn't help but be disgusted by the site of the little carving.

"If it's okay with you two, I think the gals and I are going to stay up here 'til you get back." Selene requested. "This place is really giving me the creeps."

"Very well. If Leafa and I do not return within two hours, contact the rest of the guild." Donis ordered. "Leafa, let's go."

Leafa followed Donis through the doorway and down the staircase beyond. The walls of the tunnel around them were far rougher than the tunnels leading into K'n-yan and Yoth, almost as if some sort of worm that could burrow through stone had dug the tunnel. The stairway seemed to go down into the earth forever. For several minutes the only thing that the couple could see ahead was an infinite darkness. There were a few moments during the trek down when Leafa wondered if they were ever going to reach the end.

Then at long last the two of them came to a large stone door at the bottom of the staircase. The door was covered in some kind of disgusting black ichor, and unpleasant stench pervaded the entire tunnel.

"Donis, I'm really not sure about this." Leafa told him. "We really don't know what we're walking into here."

"What you fear Leafa is that of the unknown, the greatest fear of all." Donis told her. "The only way to dispel that fear is to unmask the unknown, and to do that we must open this door. Are you with me?"

"…Okay. Let's do it." Leafa finally answered.

Together, the two of them gave the slime-covered doors a gentle push. The door swung inward, and a second later the earth seemed to shake for a moment. The tremor stopped almost as soon as it had begun, and suddenly seven of the black blob monsters came at them from the darkness beyond the door. Not liking their odds, Leafa and Donis ran back up the staircase as fast as their legs could carry them. After a few minutes they finally made it back to the top and emerged from the temple, but what they found when they came out stunned them. The entire city of Yoth was crawling with black blobs. Selene and the rest of her squad was busy trying to dispatch some of the fouls beasts.

"What happened?" Leafa asked Selene as the imp warrior fought one of the blobs.

"How the hell should I know?" Selene answered as she stabbed the blob she was fighting. "These damn things just suddenly stampeded in here!"

"Donis! We must've trigger something when we opened the door!" Leafa realized.

Donis nodded. "I am forced to agree. We must contact the rest of the guild and regroup at the headquarters! We're going to need everyone to correct this mistake."

* * *

Kirito and Asuna were in the wasteland on Floor 76 of New Aincrad fighting a hoard consisting of four of lizard men with Klein and Siune assisting. The lizard creatures in question were covered in brown scales and wore black torn pieces of cloth around their waists. Each one wielded an axe made from pieces of bone and black rock. Kirito dispatched the two lizard monsters he was fighting with hits from Excalibur and the Master's Blade, while Asuna took out one with a finishing attack in the form of her inherited Mother's Rosario move. Klein meanwhile finished off the last beast with a flame attack from his sword.

"These monsters are pretty easy compared to the dragon boss on Floor 75." Klein remarked.

Asuna noticed Kirito looking at the Master's Blade. "Something wrong, Kirito?"

"During that whole fight, the Master's Blade didn't give off the same effect that it did when I dueled Donis last night." Kirito explained.

"You mean that freaky color change thing that took off a bunch of that copycat's HP?" Klein recalled. "Now that you mention it, I didn't notice that happen when you used the sword on those lizard guys."

"There's something about this sword that we don't know about." Kirito told them. "It's not an ordinary weapon."

Before anyone could reply to Kirito, the Traveler suddenly emerged from behind a large boulder that was on the corner of the battlefield. The old man walked up to Kirito and looked him square in the eye.

"You again." Kirito spoke. "What do you want?"

"The time I have warned you about has come, fairy swordsman." The Traveler told him. "The Sleeper of N'kai has awoken, and his wretched spawn is already starting to crawl up from the depths of the earth to lay waste to the land below this floating castle. You must go to the mound. You must go down into the depths and face the Sleeper of N'kai. If you do not, this land is doomed."

Before Kirito could as the old man what he meant, the traveler turned and walked away with quicker speed than one might expect from one of such advanced years. Kirito attempted to follow him, but the traveler had vanished as soon as he got behind the boulder.

"What the hell was that about?" Klein wondered.

"I think we should pay the Order of Yig another visit." Kirito decided. "I think Donis might know something about all this."

* * *

Please review and let me know what you think.


	12. Invasion from Beneath

**Author's Note:** I hadn't intended to take such a long time getting this chapter up, but it's been a pretty busy week for me. I also apologize in advance for this chapter being on the short side. It's the best I could do with some of the large-scale battle scenes it contains.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online (or the works of H.P. Lovecraft).

* * *

Chapter 12: Invasion from Beneath

Kirito and the others had left New Aincrad right after their encounter with the Traveler and took off through the sky to the headquarters of the Order of Yig. As they flew, Kirito had received an IM from Agil informing him that black blobs were appearing all over the land of ALO. At one point as they flew over a small forest, the four saw three players struggling against a hoard made up of seven of the black monstrosities. The creatures had surrounded the players and had reduced their HP to zero, causing them to become nothing more than floating balls of flame. For a moment, Kirito and the others had thought about helping the hapless trio, but they had quickly realized that there was nothing that they could've done.

"Those blob things are as tough as all the rumors say they are." Klein remarked. "I can't believe how they're showing up all over the place."

"That forest we were over is supposed to be full of only low-level monsters." Siune recalled. "It's a known level grinding spot for new players. I can't believe that the game would have monsters that strong just show up there like that."

"She's right, daddy." Yui told Kirito. "The Cardinal System shouldn't be generating monsters of that strength level in a low-level zone. In fact there's something very random about where all these blobs are showing up."

"What're you guys talking about?" Klein asked.

"Basically, those high-level blobs are popping up in places where only low-level monsters should be showing up." Kirito explained. "It'd sort of be like if a monster from say Floor 99 of New Aincrad showed up in that field on Floor 1 where I first showed you how to fight in SAO."

"Now that's a nasty thought." Klein replied, shuddering a bit. "So I'm guessing that kind of thing shouldn't happen at all."

"Right. The Cardinal System is supposed to control things like monster encounters to keep stuff like that from happening." Kirito confirmed. "I have no idea why it would suddenly start generating such high-level monsters in such low-level areas."

"Kirito, do you think this means that there's something wrong with ALO itself?" Asuna asked.

"I don't know." Kirito answered. "What I do know though is that those monsters are from that mound. Which means that Donis probably knows something about it."

At last the four finally arrived at the HQ for the Order of Yig. Kirito simply opened the door and barged into the building with the others following close behind. The group found the entire guild inside around one of the tables. Practically every eye in the room fell on Kirito as he approached.

"We meet again, Kirito." Donis spoke. "I trust that this isn't a social visit."

"I'm here about the black blob monsters that have started showing up all over ALO." Kirito told him. "We just saw a bunch massacre a group of rookie players on the way over here. I know you know something about it."

"Jeez, Kirito! You can't blame Donis for what's happening now!" Lisbeth cut in. "I know you and Asuna don't exactly like him, but you can't hold him responsible for everything bad that happens in this game. Just get off his back!"

"Now, now Liz. Kirito isn't exactly entirely wrong in his thinking this time." Donis told her. "I am responsible for the crisis, though not intentionally. Leafa and I had no idea that this would happen."

"What do you mean you and Leafa?" Asuna asked.

"Earlier, Donis and I had gone down into Yoth to open the door into the last underground dungeon, N'kai." Leafa explained. "The next thing we knew, those blobs just started showing up everywhere."

"The Sleeper of N'kai." Kirito recalled.

"Wait, where'd you hear that phrase?" Sinon asked.

"It's kind of a long story." Kirito answered. "Do you know something about this, Sinon?"

"Yeah. The Sleeper of N'kai is a title used for the wicked god who rules the world under Yoth in Lovecraft's original story about the mound." Sinon explained. "The god is called Tsathoggua. Everything I've read says that he's supposed to be some kind of frog-like monsters that the people of K'n-yan used to worship."

"What do you mean used to worship?" Lisbeth asked.

"Well… from what I remember, it's because at one time they had traveled down to N'kai and found out the truth about Tsathoggua." Sinon answered. "About what he actually was and about his spawn. I think those black blobs are supposed to be his children."

"Hate to see what the mom looks like." Klein remarked.

"Whatever this Tsathoggua is, those children of his are running amuck all over ALO." Kirito pointed out. "Donis, you and Leafa must've triggered some kind of event when you opened that door."

"I had come to the same conclusion." Donis agreed. "And I believe you must also know of the only possible way to bring this event to an end."

"Yeah. We have to go into N'kai and defeat Tsathoggua." Kirito deduced.

"Hold up, Donis wannabe." Selene cut in. "What's with all this 'we' stuff? This is our screw-up, and we'll take care if it ourselves. We don't need your help to clean up our mess."

"Actually Selene, I think we just might." Donis told her. "This is a major problem, one that's affecting the entire game. We can use all the strong players we can get. And I know for a fact that Kirito and his companions are among the strongest."

"He's right about that." Sinon admitted. "Tsathoggua's probably the most powerful monster under the mound. We need a powerhouse player like Kirito on our side."

"So what do you say, old boy? Shall we form a temporary alliance?" Donis asked.

"…I guess we don't really have a choice." Kirito finally agreed. "But don't expect this to change anything between us."

"I have no illusions that it will." Donis replied. "When all this is over, you and I can go back to being enemies."

With that, Kirito and the others departed with Donis and his guild and began their flight to the mound. As the large group traveled across the sky, they saw many more of the blob monsters roaming around the fields and forested areas of the land below. Every now and then they would see other players on the ground encounter the blobs, either running away from them or trying to fight them in vein. Many of the blobs they saw on the ground had banded into hoards that were easily overwhelming the players who were unfortunate enough to encounter them.

"At least these things don't seem to be showing up in any of the towns." Kirito remarked. "That means those places are still safe zones."

"What's troubling about all this is that even if the blobs are the result of a massive quest event, the levels of most of them are too high for some of the areas they've been showing up in." Yui pointed out. "The Cardinal System should at the very least be regulating the monsters' levels so that they correspond at least slightly with the monsters that would normally appear."

"Yui, are you saying that the Cardinal System is broken somehow?" Asuna asked.

"I don't know." Yui answered with a worried expression. "But there is something very abnormal going on here."

After a few more minutes of flying, the large group of players finally arrived in the airspace of imp territory and reached the mound. They were quite thankful to find that none of the black blobs were roaming around on top of that massive bump in the earth. Cautiously, they made their way down into the dark passageway that led into K'n-yan, keeping their weapons ready in case they encountered any blobs along the way. Thankfully their trek down the tunnel was absent of any of the black monstrosities. What the entire joint raiding party found when they reached the end of the tunnel and entered the dead city sent a chill down all of their spines.

All around K'n-yan, armies of black blobs were doing battle with the headless undead warriors and limbless creatures that were a common sight down in the blue-lit world. Pairs of the headless swordswomen were fighting off hoards made up of three to five blobs, and every now and then a headless and armless creature would ram into one of the blobs in what would ended up being a suicide attack. It was as if their raiding party had stepped into a macabre war out of the disturbed nightmare of a madman.

"I certainly wasn't expecting this." Lisbeth remarked.

"Oh man! This place is totally freaky!" Klein declared. "And all you ladies have been raiding this place on a regular basis?"

"You kinda get used to it after a while." Sinon told him. "Though things down here have never been this whacked out before."

"Why are all the headless things fighting the blobs?" Leafa wondered.

"Well, the original inhabitants of K'n-yan were said to have started fearing Tsathoggua after they found out about his spawn, which is what these blobs are supposed to be." Sinon pointed out. "Since all the headless monsters seem to be like security robots or something, they must be programed to view the blobs as enemies and destroy them."

Selene saw one of the headless women shatter into polygons from a blob's attack. "They don't seem to be having too much luck with that."

"Whatever the reason is behind this place suddenly turning into a warzone, it does work to our advantage." Donis pointed out.

"He's right. With those headless monsters keeping the blobs busy, it should be pretty easy for us to go down into the next level." Kirito told them. "Donis, are there any more of those headless monsters down in Yoth?"

"Not that we've ever seen, I'm afraid." Donis answered. "Yoth was supposed to have been inhabited by a different civilization according to Sinon. One that did not utilize these undead warriors."

"In other words, we're pretty much on our own down there." Kirito realized.

"It would appear so, old boy." Donis replied. "I suppose it only helps to illustrate the difference in difficulty level between this city and Yoth."

"We better get going quickly." Asuna interrupted. "The long this goes on, the worse things are going to get up top."

As quickly as they could, the joint raiding party made its way to the building that housed the doorway into Yoth. By some miracle, they had managed to avoid being attacked by any of the stray black blobs that weren't doing battle with K'n-yan's headless sentinels. They reached the building within a few minutes, and after getting around a few of the monster-on-monster battles that were happening inside, they reached the empty arena that once housed the headless giant that Donis, Leafa, Sinon and Lisbeth had fought before the forming of the guild and went down into the passageway that led into Yoth. As soon as they all made it into the red-lit underground city they found the place to be crawling with blobs. The horrid beasts surrounded the raiding party in mere moments.

Everyone drew their weapons and began to fight their way through. Kirito cut into the blob he was facing with the Master's Blade, causing it to suddenly turn white and its HP to be reduced to a red sliver. An instant later he cut into the creature with Excalibur, causing its remaining HP to drop to zero and its body to pop like a bubble. It took Kirito half a second to realize what he had just done.

"Daddy, the blobs seem to be weak against your new sword!" Yui observed.

"What kind of weapon is this thing, anyway?" Kirito wondered as he looked at the sword's blade.

"You can ponder the power of your sword later, old boy!" Donis told him as he cut into another blob with his own swords. "Right now it would be best if you cleared a path for us to that temple!"

Kirito nodded and began hacking his way through oncoming blobs, producing the same result as when he had struck the first creature. He found that each blob seemed to give off a scent similar to the smoke a piece of electronic equipment gives off when it shorts out. Asuna, Klein and Siune followed close behind Kirito as he cleared a path, as did Donis, Lisbeth, Sinon and Leafa. Selene, Aria and most of the others were forced to remain behind and keep most of the blobs busy. After several minutes of fighting their way through an army, Kirito's group finally made it to the temple.

Just as they were about to make it to the door of the ancient temple, three blobs showed up and blocked the entrance. Kirito, Donis and Leafa made quick work of the blobs, but several more came up and surrounded them from behind.

"Liz and I will handle these guys out here!" Sinon decided. "The rest of you focus on taking care of Tsathoggua!"

"Are you sure?" Kirito asked them. "There are a lot of 'em!"

"We'll be fine!" Lisbeth assured him. "Besides, once you beat Tsathoggua, this should all be over!"

"Good luck to both of you!" Donis told the two. "We won't let your work be in vein!"

With that, Kirito and the others went into the temple as Lisbeth and Sinon began fighting the oncoming blobs. What remained of the once large raiding party made its way through the archway at the back of the temple and down into the untold depths of the earth to the shadowed N'kai.

"Man, this is nuts!" Klein declared as they traveled down. "It's down to just us and we're probably going to be fighting a boss as tough as the one on the top floor of New Aincrad for all we know!"

"This is hardly the scenario I had been hoping for either." Donis admitted. "With only two undine players with us, we might not be able to last very long against Tsathoggua."

"What's this N'kai place even like?" Asuna asked.

"We don't know." Leafa answered. "Donis and I were forced to retreat almost as soon as the door opened."

"Then I guess we better be ready for anything." Kirito observed.

The diminished raiding party continued down in almost total silence for several more minutes before finally reached the open door into N'kai. The rectangular opening was pitch-black and almost seemed like an open mouth.

"I am really not liking this!" Klein declared.

"Neither am I. But it seems like the whole fate of ALO is depending on us beating whatever monster's lurking inside that dungeon." Kirito pointed out. "Like it or not, we're going in."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Before I sign off for now, I feel I should mention something about the monster that Kirito and the others will be facing in the next chapter, Tsathoggua. Tsathoggua is indeed a deity from Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, but the creature was originally the creation of another author from around that time named Clark Ashton Smith. Smith and Lovecraft apparently knew each other pretty well, and at some point Tsathoggua ended up being incorporated into some of Lovecraft's stories. Of course in most of the stories I've read, Tsathoggua's only been mentioned in passing. Anyway, I just thought some of you reading might be interested in knowing all that.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	13. The Sleeper of N'kai

**Author's Note:** The reason for the delay with this chapter is because I suddenly decided to revive another fanfic that I had put on hiatus and thought I was never going to work on again. The story I'm speaking of is called _Digimon: Sakura Knight_. I am still going to be putting more energy into this story for the time being though, since sadly no one has been reading _Sakura Knight_. I don't know what I've been doing wrong with that story, but it's been getting zero reviews. Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys this next chapter of The Gold Swordsman.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online.

* * *

Chapter 13: The Sleeper of N'kai

The underground kingdom of N'kai had proven to be far different than the realms of Yoth and K'n-yan. The place was practically pitch-black except for a strange luminescent moss that was growing on the cavern walls, bathing the entire place in a dim light. There were buildings of black stone scattered down around N'kai, but they were all quite small and of a very primitive designed. Many of them had strange vines growing up their walls. Growing from the ground of the cavernous underground kingdom were small patches of odd vegetation, sickly grey mushrooms of an abnormal size and unhealthy-looking grass of an off-white color.

Kirito and the others at that moment were walking along a river disgusting black ooze, the same kind of black ooze that the blob creatures seemed to be made off. There were several times as they traveled along that river when they wondered if more blobs might spontaneously rise out of it and attack them. Whatever the black substance was, it smelled like an old gas station toilet that hadn't been cleaned in five hundred years.

"Man! How much longer until we find this Tsathoggua thing?" Klein asked. "Seems like we've been walking next to this sewer forever."

"Its room should be around here somewhere." Kirito assumed.

"If N'kai is laid out at all like K'n-yan and Yoth, Tsathoggua's lair should be in a large central building." Donis told them. "Hopefully we'll know it when we see it."

At long last, after following the black river for a few more minutes, the group came upon a large square and ancient-looking building made of the same black stone as every other structure in N'kai. The building looked to be a sort of temple with Roman columns decorating the front. The river of black ooze appeared to be flowing out from underneath the temple's left side, and there was an identical river flowing out from beneath the right side. All of this told Kirito and the others that the temple was in fact the source of the river.

"This must be the place." Leafa deduced. "Let's go."

The group crossed over a small bridge that went over the black river they had been traveling along and headed for the temple. Within moments they passed through the building's large front door. As soon as they passed through, the door slammed shut behind them and the cavernous room became lit by torches of green flame that lined the walls. Squatting in the middle of the temple was a gargantuan creature that looked to be some sort of blasphemous hybrid of toad and sloth. It had a pair of large bat-like ears on its head, and its body was covered in matted black fur.

The black ooze from the rivers flowed around in a sort of moat in the temple's floor that went around behind the toad-like monstrosity. As Kirito and the others ventured closer to the thing, its red eyes opened half way and five HP gauges appeared next to its body. Appearing above the thing's head was the name, "Tsathoggua, the Sleeper of N'kai". Tsathoggua opened his mouth and launched his thick whip-like tongue at Kirito and the others. Everyone in the team scattered and the tip of the tongue ended up hitting the floor and creating a small crater.

"It's safe to say we found Tsathoggua." Kirito deduced as the toad monster's tongue retracted back into his mouth. "Let's get 'em!"

Kirito, Donis and Klein all charged at Tsathoggua with their swords drawn. When he got in range, Kirito cut into the abomination's body with the Master's Blade, causing its body to flash between normal and negative coloring. A split second later, Kirito sliced into the creature's flabby body with Excalibur. At the same time, Donis and Klein had hit the beast with their own attacks. Leafa meanwhile hung back and swung her sword through the air, sending an energy attack up at Tsathoggua. The blast struck the hideous toad god in the face and created a sphere of energy around Tsathoggua's head. The sphere shocked Tsathoggua for a few moments before it finally exploded, but when the smoke cleared and all was said and done, Kirito and the others had only taken a very small piece out of Tsathoggua's first HP gauge.

"What the hell!" Klein exclaimed. "All that and we barely even laid a scratch on this thing?"

"Daddy! Tsathoggua's defensive stats are higher than anything I've ever seen." Yui reported.

"Which means this is going to be a really long fight." Kirito realized.

"Tsathoggua doesn't seem to be fighting back, however." Donis noted as he slashed the toad creature again with his blades. "His attack patterns must be very slow. Let's just hit him as fast and as hard as we can."

With that, Kirito and the other continued their assault, slowly whittling down Tsathoggua's HP. By the time they had finally gotten the creature's first HP gauge down to half of what it originally was, Tsathoggua let out a loud croaking noise. A second later, pieces of the ooze from the moat around Tsathoggua rose up and became a small army of black blobs. Kirito and the others were forced to stop their attack on Tsathoggua and deal with the advancing hoard.

"Dammit!" Kirito cursed as he cut into one of the blobs. "This is how Tsathoggua fights! He just sits there and sends out these blobs to do the fighting for him!"

"How are we supposed to win like this?" Leafa asked as she dealt with another one of the blobs. "We'd need a whole army of players to defeat all these monsters!"

"It's time for a change in strategy!" Donis decided as he put his sword away. "Everyone remain where you are!"

With that, Donis began to chant an odd spell that was familiar only to Leafa. Gold lightning bolts suddenly shot down from above and struck the blobs, dropping their HP gauges to zero. Donis remained standing and seemed to be catching his breath.

"What the hell kind of attack spell was that?" Klein asked.

"Here's how this is going to work!" Donis told them. "Kirito, you focus on attacking Tsathoggua with Leafa and Klein! Meanwhile, I'll focus on destroying all of the blob hoards that Tsathoggua summons! Asuna, you and Ms. Siune stay back and focus on healing us!"

"But Donis, that spell you use takes a lot out of you!" Leafa pointed out.

"There's no need to worry, Leafa." Donis assured her. "I have a few tricks up my sleeve that I've yet to show you."

"It's the best plan we've got." Kirito realized. "Let's keep at it!"

Kirito continued the attack on Tsathoggua with Klein and Leafa backing him up. Tsathoggua meanwhile remained motionless and let the trio strike him. Eventually the frog creature launched his tongue at Donis, but the gold swordsman easily jumped back and dodged to attack. Several minutes seemed to go by and Tsathoggua's first HP gauge finally became a red sliver. At that point, Tsathoggua let out another croaking noise and summoned another hoard of blob monsters. Donis cast his odd spell again and bolts of gold lightning destroyed the blobs.

"Donis, how long do you expect to keep this up?" Asuna asked him. "Whatever spell you're using has almost completely eaten up your MP."

"I assure you, my dear Asuna that I have everything covered." Donis told her as he accessed his menu screen.

Materializing in Donis's hand was a large silver syringe. Donis injected the needle into the side of his neck and injected himself with the contents. The gold swordsman's HP gauge dropped into the red zone and the blue MP gauge right below it went up by the same amount. Donis tossed the spent syringe to the floor of the temple, causing it to shatter into blue polygons.

"What kind of potion was that supposed to be?" a noticeably unsettled Siune asked.

"I have no idea." Asuna answered. "But it seemed like it converted his HP into MP."

"If you ladies wouldn't mind, I could use a bit of healing at the moment." Donis requested. "I imagine it won't be long before Tsathoggua summons another army."

Asuna and Siune healed Donis without delay and remained on standby as the assault on Tsathoggua continued. Several more minutes went by as Kirito and the others continued to do as much damage as they could to the toad-like abomination. Tsathoggua did little to fight back besides occasionally launching his tongue at the group and summoning more hoards of blobs. Donis managed to take care of every blob hoard with the same attack spell. The gold swordsman went through several more syringes of his odd potion as the battle raged on.

It seemed like an hour and a half had passed by the time Kirito and the others got Tsathoggua's final HP gauge into the red zone. Donis had just defeated another hoard of blobs before injecting himself with another syringe.

"That was my last syringe of converter potion!" Donis informed Kirito and the others. "We had better finish off this vile thing fast!"

"Easier said than done." Kirito told him.

Suddenly Tsathogua opened his mouth again. But rather than launch his tongue, the toad creature belched out several large stone-like projectiles at Donis. The Kirito lookalike was struck by the barrage but managed to endure it. Though a good chunk of his HP had been lost. Tsathoggua then summoned another hoard of blobs to attack them. Donis used another attack spell to take them out, only for Tsathoggua to fire another barrage of stone-like projectiles at him. Donis somehow managed to avoid the attack and drew his swords.

"Tsathoggua's attack pattern has changed!" Yui observed. "He's not only moving faster, he's using a much more powerful attack!"

"Kazuto! Donis can't hold out much longer!" Leafa told Kirito. "We need to end this now!"

"Then let's hit him with everything we've got!" Kirito responded.

With that, Kirito and the others continued their attack. As Klein and Kirito moved in for another strike, Tsathoggua suddenly swatted him aside with his left hand. Leafa fired another attack from her sword that struck Tsathoggua in the face and took off another small chunk of HP. Tsathoggua belched out another barrage of stones at the blonde fairy and Donis, which they both managed to dodge. As Kirito and Klein got back to their feet, Tsathoggua summoned another hoard of blobs to come to his aid. Donis destroyed the oncoming hoard with another attack spell as Kirito and Klein resumed their attack.

"I can't use the spell again!" Donis told the others. "We have to finish Tsathoggua off!"

Leafa took a deep breath as Kirito and Klein continued to cut into Tsathoggua. The toad creature's remaining HP gauge had finally fallen to a mere red sliver. With one hard swing, Leafa launched another energy attack that struck Tsathoggua in the face. The toad creature's HP gauge finally dropped to zero and its body shattered into blue polygons. The standard message of congratulations appeared in the air above where Tsathoggua once squatted.

Suddenly a hidden door opened up in the wall on Donis and Leafa's left. Donis grabbed Leafa's hand and pulled her off towards the door, taking her across a small bridge that was over the moat. Before Kirito and the others could react, Donis and Leafa were through the door. The door slammed shut and the room became washed out in a blinding white light. When the light faded, Kirito and the others were on top of the mound.

"Well, looks like it's finally over." Klein assumed.

"What happened to Donis and Leafa?" Siune asked. "Why weren't they teleported out with us?"

"I saw them go into some secret room that opened up when Tsathoggua was defeated." Kirito answered. "I don't know what that room was, but I don't I've got a bad feeling about it."

* * *

Leafa looked around the room that Donis had pulled her into. It was a cylindrical room with strange pictographs decorating the walls. In the center of the room was a silver altar with something written on the top, and mounted in the wall opposite the door was a round green crystal staring down at her like some kind of eye.

"What is this place?" Leafa asked.

"This is what we were after from the beginning, dearest Leafa." Donis answered. "This chamber will take us to the Plateau of Leng. It would've been better if we didn't have to go through that business with Tsathoggua to get to this point, but the important thing is that we're here now."

"So… how does this work?" Leafa asked.

"According to what Sinon found out in the _Necronomicon_ , this room is basically a teleport chamber." Donis explained. "When activated, it should take us from here to Leng."

"How do we turn it on?" Leafa asked.

"Well… and I figured some of this out on my own from the page I saw in the _Necronomicon_ … it seems that a certain ritual is involved." Donis answered. "You're supposed to go over to that alter over there and read the spell written on it while I… enter your backdoor, so to speak."

"You mean… this is some kind of sex ritual?" Leafa asked, her face turning a deep shade of red.

"It would seem so." Donis answered. "I suppose we don't have to do this if you don't want to."

Leafa said nothing and accessed her menu. In a blue flash she had become totally naked. The blonde stepped over to the altar and looked back at Donis expectantly. Smirking, the gold swordsman accessed his own menu screen and removed all of his clothing. Donis walked up behind Leafa, and after taking hold of her waist he shoved his already hardened manhood into her rear end. Leafa's eyes went totally wide.

"Oh god! This… this feels incredible!" Leafa declared.

"Read the spell." Donis told her as he began to plow into her.

Leafa nodded and began reading the spell on the altar. "Yog-Sothoth is the gate. I… I am the lock. I call upon him… to open the gate… as I have opened my body."

Suddenly a silver rod popped out of the front of the altar and entered Leafa's womanhood, causing her to let out a cry of surprise. Donis's thrusts were causing the other rod to push deep inside of her, sending her to new heights of pleasure. Leafa tried to keep her head together and finish reading the spell.

"Let us travel… to the land of Leng." Leafa continued. "The land only… only glimpsed briefly in dreams… and whispered in story. Open the way for us… so that we may set… AH… may set foot on that wondrous… plateau… and glimpse the ancient secrets… of all… of all CREATION!"

At that moment Donis and Leafa came to a hard climax. A split second later the green crystal in the far wall glowed and the couple vanished in a blinding flash of green light.

* * *

Kirito and Asuna returned with Yui to their little cabin in New Aincrad to log out. Before logging out though, the couple decided to rest for a while after the long battle they had just had. Once they had gotten into the cabin, Kirito changed into his normal black sweatshirt and pants and slumped onto the couch. Asuna changed into her usual yellow sweater and brown shirt and cuddled up onto the couch next to him.

"That was actually a pretty brutal boss fight. Asuna declared. "Who knew that we'd have such a hard time against a boss that hardly fought back?"

"Whoever came up with the N'kai level in this game designed Tsathoggua to outlast the attacking players." Kirito explained. "They gave Tsathoggua ridiculously high defensive stats and then have him send out hoards of those blob monsters, which are already kind of hard to defeat on their own."

"I guess it's a miracle we were able to defeat him then." Asuna replied. "Of course a lot of that was thanks to that attack spell Donis used."

"Yeah, about that… there's something about that spell that's just not right." Kirito told her. "It was more like the kind of area attack that a boss monster would use. And I've never seen anything in this game that would allow a player to learn a spell like that."

"Wait, so are you saying that Donis gave himself some kind of illegal skill?" Asuna asked.

"That would make sense." Yui interjected. "If Donis copied daddy's avatar like we think it did, it wouldn't be surprising if he also gave himself special abilities that don't normally exist in the game."

"And now Donis is off somewhere in the game with Leafa." Asuna noted. "Who knows what the two of them are doing?"

"We better figure out who Donis is, and fast." Kirito told her. "Otherwise, even though people can't die in this game, Sugu could end up getting hurt."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I hope nobody was disappointed by the boss battle in this chapter. Going into this, I was afraid it might be kind of lame if Tsathoggua was just a monster that mostly sat there and took damage. But considering he had the characteristics of a sloth and was known as the Sleeper of N'kai, I felt that such a fighting style would make sense.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	14. The Azathoth Virus

**Author's Note:** I'd like to give a quick thanks to Cerberus Alpha for his review of the last chapter. I found it, for lack of a better word at the moment, insightful.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online (or the works of H.P. Lovecraft).

* * *

Chapter 14: The Azathoth Virus

Almost as soon as Kazuto had logged out of ALO after the battle with Tsathoggua, he had gotten a call from Kikuoka Seijiro. Kikuoka had told Kazuto that he had managed to find out something that might be connected to Donis in some way. The two of them set up a meeting for the following afternoon, after which Kazuto called Asuna to let her know. As for Suguha, she had logged out of ALO some time later that night, but had refused to tell Kazuto anything about what had happened to her after Tsathoggua had been defeated. Kazuto had decided not to push the matter for the time being and left Suguha alone.

That following afternoon after school, Kazuto and Asuna had taken Asuna's family limo to the rather upscale café that Kikuoka had asked them to meet at. As soon as the couple entered the building, they immediately sighted Kikuoka waving at them from a table in the back.

"You two are right on time." Kikuoka told the two as they came back and sat across from him at the table. "I went ahead and got the dessert menu for us. It's on me, if you want anything."

"You told me you found out something." Kazuto responded with a serious expression.

"I did, but to be honest I'm not certain it's connected to this player you told me about." Kikuoka replied. "In fact I'm not even certain if I should be telling you any of this."

"You owe us for making Kirito getting involved in your investigation of GGO." Asuna told him.

"To be fair, Kazuto wasn't in any real danger." Kikuoka pointed out. He then flinched a little when he saw Asuna giving him a glare. "But, I suppose this is something that's the least I can do. It turns out that ALO was the victim of a cyber attack, but as far as anyone can tell, no player data was hacked."

"Then what was the cyber attack?" Kazuto asked.

"Someone infected the servers of ALO with a computer virus." Kikuoka answered. "A hacker by the name of Koichi Chiba. He was actually a low-level programmer who worked on the staff that developed SAO."

"What was this virus supposed to do?" Asuna asked.

"As far as the tech team for ALO can tell, it was to make the Cardinal system add certain things to the game." Kikouka answered. "Chiba is apparently a big fan of the Cthulhu Mythos started originally by the American author, H.P. Lovecraft. According to what some of my associates found out, Chiba tried getting his superiors at SAO to add elements of the mythos to the game. When that never happened, he kept calling in to the staff at ALO to add those same elements to that game. But of course each time he was ignored."

"So at that point he made a virus to try adding stuff from the Cthulhu Mythos to ALO himself." Kazuto deduced.

"Exactly." Kikouka confirmed. "Chiba confessed that was his reason for making the virus when we interviewed him. He even called his creation the Azathoth Virus, a name he took from the first and oldest deity in that mythos he likes so much."

"How is it that nobody knows about this?" Asuna asked.

"I know why. If the news of a computer virus infecting ALO's systems went public, there'd be chaos." Kazuto answered.

"That's right. VRMMOs are still under a lot of scrutiny." Kikouka replied. "News of any kind of cyber attack like this getting out would cause panic and practically shatter the already battered image VRMMOs still have from things like the SAO incident. Fortunately, the staff at ALO was able to cover up the news by claiming that the new areas and monsters in the game were all a promotion for a new movie based on one of Lovecraft's stories."

"Well I guess all that explains where all those underground dungeons came from." Kazuto realized. "And why all those blob monsters showed up in areas of the game where they shouldn't have. But it doesn't explain how Donis could have a copy of my avatar."

"Could this hacker have maybe copied Kirito's player data when he planted the virus?" Asuna asked. "Maybe he's using that copied avatar for himself."

"That was one of the first things I thought of." Kikouka revealed. "Except Chiba hasn't tried playing ALO since he planted the virus. He's been tending to his sick mother when he hasn't been at work. Besides, I looked into Chiba's background and he doesn't seem to have a connection to either of you. He's never played SAO or GGO, though I suppose you might have crossed paths with him in ALO. Chiba's screen name in that game is Hypnos. That name sound familiar to either of you?"

"I've never heard of him." Asuna answered.

"Neither have I." Kazuto replied. "I'm kinda starting to wonder if Donis even has anything to do with this at all."

"I'll keep digging into this, of course." Kikouka assured them. "The possibility of anyone's character data being copied is serious enough. Hopefully I'll be able to find some answers for you soon."

"Thanks." Kazuto told him.

"There is one other thing that I think I should mention." Kikouka informed them. "The Azathoth Virus is still in the game. So far the staff at ALO have only been able to contain it on the system. If they can't find a way to get rid of it soon, they may have no other choice but to shut everything down and totally reboot the system."

"But… that would cause everything in the game to reset to the way it was when it first came online!" Asuna realized. "All the levels in New Aincrad would have to be cleared all over again. Everyone who got their name on the Monument of Swordsmen… all those names would be gone."

"Everyone's player data would also probably be reset too." Kazuto added. "It would be as if ALO had never been played at all."

"Everyone working at ALO is doing everything they can to stop that from happening, but they can only contain the virus for so long." Kikouka told them. "I'll keep you both in the loop, but you may have to be prepared for the worst."

The meeting ended soon after that. Kazuto and Asuna took the limo back to Asuna's place. They rode in silence as the enormity of what Kikouka had told them sunk in. The game of ALO was dying, and it seemed like there was nothing they could do about it.

"You know… I've been thinking about how this virus that's infected ALO might work." Kazuto spoke, finally breaking the silence. "You remember how the full version of the Cardinal System that ran SAO and ALO would spontaneously generate quests by taking things from the web? I'm thinking the virus may have reactivated that feature for ALO, only its limited the system to building quests and items from the Cthulhu Mythos."

"But… didn't Yui say that feature would lead to ALO destroying its own maps the way SAO did at the end?" Asuna asked.

"Yeah. But instead of a Ragnarok event, it would probably something else." Kazuto confirmed. "Something much weirder. What gets me is that hacker probably didn't realize that anything like that would happen."

"And we're still no closer to figuring out who Donis really is." Asuna pointed out.

"Actually… I kind of wonder about that." Kazuto told her. "That sword I have in the game, the Master's Blade. It affected those blobs the same way it affected Donis in our duel. I wonder if… no, it couldn't be."

"What?" Asuna asked.

"Well… I thought for a moment that Donis might be some kind of NPC, but it doesn't add up." Kirito told her. "We've seen Donis use a menu. That's something that an NPC shouldn't be able to do. Besides, why would there be an NPC based on my avatar?"

"But then why would your sword have the same effect on him as it does on those monsters?" Asuna asked.

"I don't know." Kirito answered. "Nothing about this makes sense right now."

* * *

The Plateau of Leng had proven to be a far stranger land than Leafa had imagined. Right after the ritual with Donis down in N'kai, the two of them had been teleported to a strange set of ruins where they received special bracelets with teleport crystals that could take them freely between Leng and the normal land of ALO. As soon as they had gotten dressed, the couple had ventured out of the ruins to find they were on top of some kind of mountain range that was higher than anything else that existed in the game. The place was extremely cold and cast in the perpetual twilight of an overcast grey sky. After the couple had explored the area outside the ruins for a bit, they had decided to come back the following afternoon to travel further up the mountain.

On that following afternoon, Leafa and Donis had returned to Leng and were walking up a spiraling path that led upwards. Leafa half wondered if perhaps they might go so high as to pass through the clouds into the stars. The mountain range was utterly silent except for an unsettling noise like the sound of some musical piping that was caused by the occasional gust of wind through the mountains. No living being seemed to exist in those ominous mountains except for a strange kind of monster that Donis and Leafa had encountered shortly after they had first arrived. Whatever the things were though, they seemed to be quite rare and were very easy to defeat.

Leng was indeed a very strange place, yet as eerie as Leafa thought it was, she also couldn't help but find it sort of romantic. She and Donis were the only players on that level of the game. They were the only ones who were capable of coming to Leng, or at least as far as Leafa knew. Leafa couldn't help but find that special. Kirito and Asuna had their little cabin in New Aincrad, and she and Donis had Leng. It was a very alien place, but it was still theirs. Leafa wondered if perhaps they might find some little cabin in those mountains that she and Donis could claim as their own.

As the two of them finally neared the top, they encountered another one of the strange creatures that inhabited Leng. It was a vegetable-like creature with a dark-blue barrel-shaped body with five tentacles that extended out from around the center. The top and bottom of the organism had yellow star-shaped growths. The bottom growth was some sort of rudimentary foot, while the growth on the top acted at the creature's head. That head had five small red eyes and a star-shaped mouth lined with small pointed teeth.

Donis swiftly charged forward and cut into the thing with both swords. After three strikes, the creature's HP gauge went to zero and its body shattered into blue polygons.

"I wonder what these things are supposed to be?" Leafa spoke.

"If I'm remembering correctly, the page from the _Necronomicon_ about Leng that Sinon showed me said that these creatures are called Elder Things." Donis answered. "They were a once proud race that traveled here from beyond the stars, but their isolation here caused them to degenerate into the primitive monsters we've been seeing. I can't help but pity them a bit."

"Well whatever they are, they sure don't seem to be much of a threat." Leafa noted. "Did you at least get a drop item from the one you just killed?"

"I'm afraid not." Donis answered. "We should press on. Our goal lies at the top of this mountain."

A few moments later they had finally reached the end of the path and were at the very top of the mountain. Before them was a set four stone pillars, one of which was broken at the top. When the got closer, Leafa and Donis found that the pillars were at four corners of a round stone pit that was not very deep. Leafa thought that perhaps the structure was originally some kind of pool or bath. In the center of the pit was a smaller round hole that showed only pitch-blackness.

"Leafa, you said that you obtained a drop item from your battle with Tsathoggua, right?" Donis asked.

"Um, yeah. Why?" Leafa replied.

"May I have it, please?" Donis requested.

Leafa nodded and called up her item menu. After a few moments of searching, she found the object she had received as reward for landing the finishing blow on Tsathoggua, an object called the Blood of N'kai. Leafa selected the item, and materializing in her hands was a large glass beaker containing a black substance that looked to be the same black ooze that flowed down in N'kai. The very same ooze that Tsathoggua's wretched spawn seemed to be made of. After Leafa handed the beaker to Donis, the gold swordsman surprised her by throwing the beaker into the pit.

The beaker shattered upon hitting the stone floor of the pit. The black ooze poured out of the broken vessel and expanded outward. To Leafa's amazement, the black substance rose and filled the entire pit. Suddenly the ooze began to bubble and steam started rising from the surface. The boiling slime gave off an acrid stench, almost as if someone was trying to cook the contents of a sewage tank.

"Donis, what's going on?" Leafa asked as she held her nose.

Donis held up his hand to silence her and looked towards his left. One of the Elder Things had shown up and was coming towards the pit. As soon as it had gotten to the edge, Donis stormed over and stabbed through the center of its barrel-shaped body with his right-hand sword. Donis pulled out the blade and pushed the dying vegetable creature into the boiling pool of ooze. The slain Elder Thing shattered into blue polygons upon hitting the surface and in seconds the boiling liquid had suddenly become clear. Leafa took her hand off her nose and found that the stench had gone.

"How… how did you do that?" Leafa asked Donis.

"That's not important right now." Donis answered as he accessed his menu.

In moments Donis was completely naked. Leafa blushed as she watched Donis step into the pit. The surface of the liquid that had seemed to become water only went up to his waist.

"…Is this some kind of hot spring?" Leafa asked.

"You could look at it that way." Donis replied. "Care to join me?"

Leafa smiled and quickly removed all her clothes with a single command. A private hot spring wasn't quite the same as their own cabin, but was still very romantic all the same. Moments after Leafa had gotten in the water, they became locked in an embrace that led to an open-mouthed kiss. As they kissed, Donis fondled Leafa's right breast, causing her to moan into his mouth. Eventually they broke for air, after which Donis began kissing and sucking on Leafa's neck.

Before she knew it, Leafa had been pushed up against the edge of the pool. Donis pushed his hardened manhood into Leafa, causing her to respond by wrapping her legs around his waist. Leafa dug her nails into Donis's back as he plowed into her. A sweet eternity seemed to go by until at last they both came to a hard climax. A split second later, the ground began to share and something rose out of the center of the pool. The object was a stone pedestal that rose out of the water at chest-level. The pedestal had a square top with strange runes carved into its four sides.

Donis withdrew himself from Leafa and turned around before calling up his menu. Appearing in Donis's hand was the case containing the crystal Lisbeth had found.

"What's that?" Leafa asked.

"This, my dear, is a key." Donis answered as he walked over to the pedestal in the center of the pool and placed the case on top, opening the lid to reveal its contents. "Normally, it only shows the images of other worlds. Images that I should note are very bewitching to look at, not to mention… stimulating. But when used in the right way here, it can open the door to something wondrous."

"Did you get all that from the _Necronomicon_ too?" Leafa asked.

"Why yes." Donis confirmed. "Where else would I have obtained such knowledge?"

"Okay. So how does this key work?" Leafa asked.

"All you need to do is come over here and gaze at it." Donis answered as he stepped aside. "I will do the rest."

Leafa walked over to the pedestal and looked into the crystal. Inside she could see images of dream-like and nightmarish landscapes swirling around. It really was as hypnotic as Donis had said it would be. Without realizing it, Leafa placed her hands on the sides of the pedestal. Donis moved around behind her and pushed his already re-hardened manhood into her rear end, and at the same time pushed two fingers into her womanhood. Leafa gasped and began to moan as Donis rammed into her. The entire time she kept her eyes on the crystal, becoming lost in the images she was seeing and the raw pleasure she was experiencing.

As time went on, Leafa was barely aware that Donis seemed to be chanting something. The words seemed to be of some unknown language. One word from the chant that seemed to stick out to Leafa was the word, Azathoth. She didn't know what the word meant, but it seemed to have some kind of significance. Yet whatever that significance was, Leafa hardly cared. After what almost seemed like eons, Leafa and Donis both came to another hard climax. The force of the orgasm had almost caused Leafa to pass out.

Only a split second after Donis and Leafa's moment of climax, the water of the pool flashed with an orange light. Soon after, the crystal glowed and shot a pillar of that same light into the sky, breaking a large hole in the grey clouds above. As Leafa came down from her high, Donis turned her around and gently pulled her close. At the same time, a digital countdown clock appeared above the crystal and started ticking away.

"It won't be long now." Donis declared.

"…Won't be long until what?" Leafa asked.

"Until this world changed for the better." Donis answered. "Now that the door has finally been unlocked, a new and glorious age will begin."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** A few of you reading may recall from this story's introduction (that is if anyone bothered to read it) that the inspiration for this story came from the Calibur arc of the actual series. Specifically, I was inspired by how the Cardinal System would apparently just spontaneously generate new quests from things it would find online. It's a shame that the series didn't explore that little feature too much. But it got me to thinking about what might happen if there was some kind of glitch that caused the system to put things into the game that just didn't really belong there.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	15. The Truth Comes Out

**Author's Note:** I apologize in advance for this being such a short chapter. Though while it is quite short, I can assure all of you reading that it'll be an eventful one.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online

* * *

Chapter 15: The Truth Comes Out

The afternoon had grown quite late, and Lisbeth had spent the last several hours in her shop forging new weapons. The blacksmith's online life in ALO had grown a lot busier since she had joined the Order of Yig. For one thing, Lisbeth had to fill orders for her regular customers. Being part of a guild didn't change the fact that her shop was open to all players. In addition to all that, Lisbeth also had to continue forging weapons for the guild to use down in the mound dungeons. And even on top of that, Lisbeth was still trying to figure out the right alloy combination for a weapon that could be used effectively both down in the mound dungeons and against the normal monster of ALO. The pink-haired blacksmith realized that she had been running herself ragged.

Noticing the time, Lisbeth decided to call it an early day. He plan at that moment was to log out and relax for the rest of the evening with a nice book. Just as Lisbeth had started to close up shop though, Donis entered.

"Hello, Liz." Donis spoke. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"Hi Donis. I was just closing up." Lisbeth replied. "I know I've still got a lot of work to do, but I'm feeling a little wiped out."

"I can see that." Donis relied with a concerned expression as he came up to her. "You look very overworked. I'm afraid I must be to blame for all this."

"Well, now that you mention it, I thought you said you were going to recruit more blacksmiths into the guild." Lisbeth recalled. "I can't really do this by myself."

"I know, but I'm afraid that player blacksmiths are proving devilishly hard to come by." Donis told her. "And the ones that we have been able to find aren't exactly very skilled. Certainly not even close to your level."

"In other words I'm stuck working alone for a while, huh?" Lisbeth observed.

Donis gently took hold of Lisbeth's chin. "If you'll allow me, I'd like to try and make it up to you."

With that, Donis moved in and kissed Lisbeth's neck. Lisbeth let out a deep moan, as the blonde had picked a particularly sensitive spot. Deciding that she could use a quick tumble, Lisbeth gently pulled away from Donis and brought up her menu. With a flash of blue light, the blacksmith was rendered completely naked. Smirking, Donis turned Lisbeth around and continued kissing her neck, attacking the same spot that he had gone after before. At the same time, his hands reached around and began massaging the pinkette's breasts, his thumbs every now and then toying with her erect nipples. Lisbeth had become putty in Donis's hands.

After what seemed to Lisbeth like several minutes, Donis stopped what he was doing and turned to the wooden table they had been standing next to. The gold swordsman pushed off all the weapons that had been laid out on the table, causing them to fall to the floor with a loud cacophony of noise. Donis then brought up his menu and removed his outfit with a flash of blue light. After turning a very compliant Lisbeth around to face the table, Donis bent her over the wooden surface. Lisbeth quickly took hold of the table's edge to prepare for the hot pounding that was soon to come.

Wasting no time, Donis took hold of both of Lisbeth's legs and pulled them straight back. The pinkette soon felt Donis's rock-hard member slide into her and held on tightly to the table as he bucked his hips into her. The legs of the table creaked against the wooden floor from the force of Donis's movements. Eventually Lisbeth's inner walls began to tighten around Donis's rod, causing him to pound into her even harder. Then in one glorious instant the two of them climaxed. Lisbeth could feel Donis's warm seed shooting into her.

Donis withdrew himself from Lisbeth after a moment and quickly redressed himself with his menu. Lisbeth pushed herself back up and looked back to see Donis about to walk for the door.

"Where are you going?" Lisbeth asked just as Donis had taken his first step.

"I'm terribly sorry, dearest. But I'm afraid there's some place else I have to be at the moment." Donis told her. "It seems I let time get away from me. I will of course make it up to you later. Perhaps tomorrow?"

"Yeah… okay." Lisbeth answered. "Catch you later, I guess."

Donis quickly came back over and gave Lisbeth a peck on the cheek. After that, he was out the door before the pinkette could stop him. Frowning, Lisbeth stood back up and redressed herself. She didn't know quite how to take Donis just taking off like that. It almost seemed to Lisbeth that she had become fairly unimportant to Donis. It was almost as if what they had didn't really mean anything to him.

Rather than log out for the day, Lisbeth decided to go fly around a bit to clear her head. She decided to leave picking up all the weapons Donis had pushed off the table for another time and quickly locked up the shop. With that done, Lisbeth took off into the sky and went in a random direction. The cool breeze against her face and the view of the world below was proving to be just what the blacksmith needed to help collect her thoughts. The one question that had come to Lisbeth's mind though was what her relationship with Donis actually was.

Lisbeth had to admit that whatever it was she had with Donis had been pretty amazing, yet at the same time she found she wanted more. Going on quests together and getting it on in her shop now and then was no longer quite enough. Lisbeth found that she wanted to take her relationship with Donis further than that. She realized in that moment that she wanted their relationship to move beyond the game. It was a bold step, but Lisbeth knew that they needed to take their relationship into the real world.

Eventually Lisbeth was forced to land near a small wooded area to allow her wings to recharge. Soon after her landing, Lisbeth suddenly heard what sounded like some kind of moaning coming from within the forest. The pinkette found that she was curious and quietly ventured into the forest to see if she could find where the noise was coming from. Lisbeth wondered if perhaps she has stumbled upon some new game event. After a few moments of passing through the trees though, Lisbeth came upon a sight in the middle of the forest that practically ripped the heart from her chest.

The moaning had been coming from Selene. She was completely naked and bending against a tree as a nude Donis plowed into her from behind. The gold swordsman seemed to be chanting something in a strange language, but Lisbeth didn't pay much attention to what he was saying. Lisbeth backed away a few steps before turning and running as fast as her legs could carry her. After coming out of the forest, Lisbeth tripped on a tree root sticking out of the ground and falling on all fours.

Lisbeth remained in that position as she began crying her eyes out. She thought what she and Donis had was special, that Donis actually loved her. At that moment she realized what an idiot she had been. Asuna had warned Lisbeth about what she might be getting into when it came to an online relationship with someone she didn't know in the real world and she had failed to listen, had failed to follow her better judgment. Lisbeth had played with fire and had been burned badly.

After finally managing to compose herself a bit, Lisbeth stood back up and tried to figure out what to do. She thought about going back into the forest to confront Donis and Selene but decided against it. The blacksmith found that she couldn't bear seeing the sight of them getting it on again. Instead, Lisbeth decided to wait outside of the forest and confront either one or both of them when they came out. She had never tried PKing anyone before, but in that moment she was more than willing to give it a shot.

Moving to a place where she didn't think she'd been seen by anyone leaving the forest, Lisbeth equipped herself with Mjolnir and waited. After a few minutes Lisbeth saw Donis flying out of the forest in the opposite directing. She thought about flying after him for a moment, but decided that he was too far away to catch. Instead Lisbeth remained where she was and hoped that Selene would simply walk out. Sure enough, Lisbeth saw the imp woman exit the forest's edge just a few feet away.

"Selene!" Lisbeth called, getting the dark-haired girl's attention.

"Well hey Liz." Selene responded as she started walking towards her. "What brings you out here?"

"Don't call me Liz, you damn slut!" Lisbeth shot back. "I saw what you were doing with Donis."

After a moment, Selene burst out laughing. "I get it. You and Donis having been getting it on every now and then too."

"This isn't funny, dammit!" Lisbeth shouted.

"Hey! There's no need to get so bent out of shape." Selene told her. "Look, I'm sorry if you didn't know about this. Hell, I had no idea you and he had been getting it on either. He's probably been dipping his wick in every girl in the guild."

"How… how can you just stand there and laugh like this is nothing?" an outraged Lisbeth asked.

"Because it really isn't anything." Selene told her. "Did you really think that what you and Donis had was special? In case you forgot, this whole world is nothing but a game. If you thought that any sort of relationship in here could be anything more than sex, you're only kidding yourself. Hell! Believe it or not, that thing Donis and I were doing in there was giving me a new skill. I never thought they'd put any sex games in ALO, but I'm not complaining."

"Bullshit!" Lisbeth shot back. "Do you honestly expect me to believe that?"

"Why don't you just go back to your little blacksmith shop and cool down, pinky?" Selene suggested. "You're obviously not grownup enough to handle this sort of thing."

"It's a damn good thing this is only a virtual game, because I am gonna KILL YOU!" Lisbeth screamed as she charged at Selene.

The pinkette swung her golden hammer with all her strength at Selene. The imp woman quickly sidestepped the attack and got behind Lisbeth as she drew her sword.

"That was a stupid move, pinky." Selene told her. "But if you wanna dance, fine with me."

Suddenly an arrow came from above and struck Selene in her left shoulder. Selene looked at the arrow with a stunned expression as her HP took a drop. A split second later, several arrows struck the imp woman from seemingly all directions and struck her on several places all over her body. Selene stood there looking like a pincushion as her HP dropped to zero. Soon after, she was reduced to a floating ball of purple flames.

Lisbeth looked around frantically to see where the shots had come from. It had seemed like an entire squadron of archers had murdered Selene, yet not a single person could be seen. Just then, Sinon materialized in front of Lisbeth a few feet away. The blunette had pulled down her hood, indicating that he had been using her invisibility coat. Sinon had the coldest expression that Lisbeth had ever seen her with.

"Sinon, was… was that you who did that?" Lisbeth asked.

"Yeah." Sinon answered flatly as she approached. "I heard your entire conversation with Selene. I also saw her and Donis getting it on in the forest."

"Okay, but…" Lisbeth began, but suddenly a horrible realization hit her. "Sinon… have you and Donis…?"

"We've been seeing each other. Yeah." Sinon confirmed. "I guess Selene was right about him sleeping with every girl in the guild."

"How… how could you?" a very hurt Lisbeth asked. "I thought you and I were friends!"

"Did you think I knew about any of this?" Sinon shot back. "I was in the dark just like you were! Why the hell do you think I just shot that bitch Selen full of holes just now?"

"I… I can't take this right now!" Lisbeth told her as she brought up her menu. "Just stay away from me!"

Sinon moved to try and stop Lisbeth from logging out of the game. But before the archer could even get two steps, Lisbeth had vanished in a flash of blue light.

* * *

Rika opened her eyes after passing through a tunnel of light to find the familiar sight of her ceiling. She sat up as she took off her amusphere and glanced towards the window. Rika noticed that it was raining outside. In fact it was coming down out there quite hard. Rika couldn't help but note how the rain was the perfect setting for her current mood. After a moment Rika collapsed back onto the bed on her side and began sobbing. Her heart had been crushed and one of her best friends had stabbed her in the back. The only thing that Rika wanted to do that moment was just curl up and die.

* * *

Please review and let me know what you think.


	16. Illusion of Love

**Author's Note:** I once again apologize in advance for the short length of this chapter. In retrospect, I should've just tacked this this chapter onto the last one, but it is what it is I guess.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online.

* * *

Chapter 16: Illusion of Love

The rain was pouring down as Asuna sat in a chair by the window in the living room of her family's mansion reading a book. Her parents were gone for the week, so Asuna had the house practically to herself besides the presence of a few servants. It was actually the first time in a couple months that Asuna had gotten the chance to read a book that wasn't a textbook. Between her schoolwork and training to clear the dungeon of Floor 75 of New Aincrad, Asuan hadn't had the chance to read simply for pleasure. Plus the book was proving to be a good distraction from what was happening to ALO.

Ever since her and Kazuto's meeting with Kikuoka the previous afternoon, Asuna had been dreading the idea that ALO might have to be completely reset to correct the damage from the computer virus. That virtual world was a very special place for Asuna. It was where she shared a home with Kazuto and Yui, and where she had gone on adventures with Yuuki. If ALO did indeed have to be reset, everything that had been achieved in that world would simply disappear. There were some things in that world that could be reclaimed. Asuna and Kazuto could reclaim their cabin in New Aincrad and eventually Kazuto could reclaim Excalibur. But other things like the guild of The Sleeping Knights defeating a floor boss on their own and perhaps even the sword skill Asuna had inherited from Yuuki, all of that would be gone forever, all because some selfish hacker wanted to try and twist the game to suit his own vision. As there was nothing she could do at the moment to stop the problem, Asuna had chosen to try and keep her mind off of it.

Asuna had only gotten three pages into the third chapter of her book when the housekeeper walked into the room. "Ms. Asuna. A friend is here to see you."

The housekeeper stepped aside to allow Rika to enter the room. The brown-haired girl was soaking wet as if she had been walking through the rain for hours without an umbrella.

"Rika! What happened?" Asuna asked, standing up from her chair.

The second the housekeeper left the room, Rika once again broke down in tears. Asuna quickly went over to her and guided her over to the couch. After Rika had finally managed to compose herself, she told Asuna about what happened with Donis. She told her about how she and Donis had been seeing each other in the game on a fairly regular basis and how the relationship had quickly become physical. Rika also mentioned that Donis had been secretly seeing Sinon as well.

"I can't believe how I could've been such an idiot." Rika declared after finishing her story. "You even warned me about doing to sort of thing and I just dove in anyway."

"I'm really sorry, Rika." Asuna told her. "I… I wish there was something I could do for you. Um… if you want, you can stay the night here."

"Thanks…" Rika replied. "I just… I really thought Donis was in love with me, you know? I thought we had something special. I guess I should've listened to you when you told me how sketchy you and Kirito thought he was."

"You really fell hard for Donis, didn't you?" Asuna realized.

"It… it wasn't like I wanted to marry him or anything, but… yeah. I guess I did." Rika admitted. "He was like Kirito, but… way more charming. Maybe… maybe the only reason I was in love with Donis was because he was so much like Kirito. You do know that I did have a bit of a thing for him."

"Yeah. I can understand that." Asuna replied.

"You're a really lucky girl, you know that?" Rika told her. "You're rich, and you've got the perfect guy."

Asuna chuckled a bit. "I wouldn't exactly call Kirito perfect, but I know what you mean."

"At least what you have with Kirito is real." Rika pointed out. "In the end, this whole time what I had with Donis was all a lie."

At that moment, the housekeeper reentered the room. "Ms. Asuna, you have another friend who's come here to see you."

The housekeeper stepped aside and Shino walked into the room. The dark-haired girl wasn't nearly as wet as Rika was, but she had clearly come to the house without an umbrella.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Rika asked angrily as the housekeeper left.

"I want to talk to you." Shino told her. "I thought you might end up coming here to cry on Asuna's shoulder."

"That's because she's a hell of a better friend than you are!" Rika shot back. "How could you stab me in the back like that?"

"Dammit! Donis stabbed me in the back too!" Shino told her. "I was just in the dark about him sleeping around with other girls in the game just as you were! I… I thought he and I… had something."

Rika could see the tears rolling down Shino's cheeks. It became clear to her in that moment that Shino was telling the truth. Donis had ended up hurting them both.

"Boy. We're a real pair, aren't we?" Rika remarked with a rather dark chuckle. "You and I both got taken in by a pretty face."

"A pretty face that wasn't even a real one." Shino added. "I don't think I was head-over-heels in love with Donis the way you seemed to be, but… there was definitely a spark between us. I thought that maybe one day our relationship could move beyond the game. There's no way in hell that'll happen now."

"I bet Donis is some overweight sleazebag in real life." Rika assumed. "He's a talented one, since he was able to get ahold of Kirito's avatar data, but still… I wonder how many other girls Donis has done this too."

"Selene seemed to think that he had been getting it on with every girl in the guild." Shino recalled. "And since everyone in the guild except Donis is a girl, then…"

"Wow! That asshole must have a lot of free time and one hell of a stamina stat." Rika remarked.

"Wait. When you guys said every girl in the guild, you don't meet Suguha too, do you?" Asuna suddenly asked.

"Oh god! You're right!" Rika realized. "That totally didn't occur to me."

"Well… Kirito's Suguha's brother though, right?" Shino pointed out. "I mean… there's no way that she and Donis would…"

"Suguha and Kirito are only cousins." Asuna informed her. "And well… let's just say I have a pretty good idea about how she's felt about Kirito for a long time."

"Oh god!" Shino exclaimed. "Now I really wanna kill that bastard."

"You'll have to get behind me." Rika told her. "The next time I see Donis's face, I'm gonna tear it off him."

The housekeeper entered the room yet again. "Pardon me, Ms. Asuna. But another friend has come by to visit. You seem to be very popular today."

With that, the housekeeper left and Kazuto walked into the room. Upon seeing the dark-haired gamer's face, Rika scooped up a small flowerpot that was on the coffee table in front of the couch and threw it at him. Kazuto managed to duck out of the way before the small vase could hit him in the face.

"You have a lot of nerve showing your face here, you asshole!" Rika shouted.

"Rika, calm down!" Asuna told her. "That's not Donis, it's Kirito!"

"What the hell's going on?" a confused an understandably frightened Kazuto asked.

"Uh… sorry, Kirito." Rika told him upon coming to her senses. "This isn't a good place for you to be right now."

"Yeah. You should probably get lost." Shino told him. "Right now it's taking everything I have not to punch that face of yours."

"But, uh… I have something kinda important to talk to Asuna about." Kazuto informed them.

"Kirito, go wait in the other room for a little bit." Asuna requested. "These two need a little bit of space right now."

* * *

Kazuto had been waiting in the mansion's dining room for about twenty minutes since his volatile encounter with Rika and the others. He didn't know exactly what was going on, but after he had gotten over his initial terror he had recalled Asuna mentioning something about Donis and deduced that whatever was going on had to do with his virtual doppelganger.

At long last, Asuna finally came into the room. "Sorry about all that."

"What's going on?" Kazuto asked. "Why'd Rika just try to take my head off back there?"

"In a minute." Asuna told him. "Now, what's so important that you had to come over here?"

"Uh, right. I got a call from Kikuoka a few minutes ago." Kazuto explained. "He told me that things with the ALO server seem to have gotten worse. Some kind of timer appeared on the system and seems to be counting down to midnight tonight. It seems the timer showed up yesterday afternoon, but he only just found out about it a little bit ago."

"What's the timer counting down to?" Asuna asked.

"Nobody knows." Kazuto answered gravely. "But… Kikuoka told me that depending on what the timer activates, the staff may have no choice but to reset the game."

"Can't they stop it?" a suddenly alarmed Asun asked.

"They're trying, but so far no luck." Kazuto replied. "I was thinking that we could log back in and try to figure out how to stop it on our end. Not that I have any clue where to begin."

"So this is it." Asuna spoke. "The ALO we know could end up disappearing tonight."

"We don't know that for sure." Kazuto told her. "Now… what the heck's going on with Rika and Shino?"

"Well… it turns out they had been seeing Donis in the game." Asuna explained. "Romantically, I mean."

"Wait, they were seeing him together?" a stunned Kazuto asked.

"No. Donis had been sleeping with them both secretly." Asuna answered. "Neither of them knew about it until today. That's why they're not ticked off at you right now, but at your face."

"That bastard!" Kazuto cursed as his hands clenched into fists. "How long has this been going on?"

"For quite awhile, from the sound of it." Asuna answered. "And there's more. I'm not really sure how to tell you this, but… Rika and Shino are pretty sure that Donis has been sleeping around with every girl in that guild of his. Which means that he and…"

"You mean… with Sugu?" a horrified Kazuto asked.

"Well… we're not sure, but…" Asuna began.

Before Asuna could finish her sentence, Kazuto whirled around shouting and knocked away a glass vase that was on top of the dining room table. Asuna yelped as the glass vessel crashed and shattered against the side of the wall.

"That son of a bitch!" Kazuto cursed. "I may not be able to get to him in the real world, but while there's still an ALO I'm gonna log back in there and cut his damn head off!"

"Kirito!" Asuna called as he stormed out of the room, but he was nothing she could do to stop him.

* * *

Klein waited in a small village in ALO for Kirito to show up. He had gotten a call from his young friend a few minutes ago in the real world, where Kirito had told him about what Donis had been doing with Leafa and the others. Kirito had told Klein that he was going to hunt Donis down in the game and kill him and asked for his help. Klein agreed to help, as he was almost as outraged by Donis's actions as Kirito was. At long last, Kirito flew down from the star-filled sky and landed before Klein with Yui perched on his shoulder.

"Thanks for coming." Kirito told him.

"No problem, man." Klein told him. "I don't mind helping you kick Donis's ass in the game one bit. Surrounding yourself with pretty ladies is one thing, but sleeping around with them is a step too far in my book. So, any idea where we can find your sleazy twin?"

Before Kirito could answer, Asuna came down from the sky with Siune. Lisbeth and Sinon landed next to them soon after.

"What're you guys doing here?" Kirito asked.

"Trying to keep you from doing anything too crazy?" Asuna answered. "I get how you feel Kirito, but I don't want you doing anything too extreme."

"As for me and Sinon, we're here to help you castrate that son of a bitch." Lisbeth informed him.

"Just try not to look directly at us." Sinon told the black swordsman.

"Actually, I'm glad all of your are here." Kirito admitted. "I could probably use all the help I can get if I'm going to get to Donis."

"Why? Where do you think he is?" Asuna asked.

"When I spoke to him alone that one time at his guild's headquarters, he told me he was trying to get to an area of the game called the Plateau of Leng." Kirito explained. "He said that the portal to that area was somewhere down in N'kai."

"I remember telling him about Leng from what I read in the _Necronomicon_." Sinon recalled. "He seemed very interested in the place."

"When we beat Tsathoggua, a door opened up in his boss room opened up to reveal another room." Kirito explained. "Donis and Sugu went into that room just before the rest of us were teleported out. I think that room probably leads to the portal to Leng."

"So wait. You're saying that you're planning to go into Tsathoggua's boss room to try and get to Leng?" Asuna deduced.

"Pretty much." Kirito confirmed. "And I'm pretty sure that Donis is in Leng right now."

"You're probably right, man. But what if we have to fight that Tsathoggua thing again to get there?" Klein pointed out. "That thing could've re-spawned since we fought it."

"It took Donis's help to defeat Tsathoggua in the first place." Siune reminded him. "If Tsathoggua has re-spawned, we'd probably need a raiding party as big as the one used on Floor 75 to beat him."

"It's a chance we're just gonna have to take." Kirito told them. "I'm taking Donis down even if I have to fight someone as strong as Kayaba again to get to him!"

* * *

 **Author's Note:** We're getting much closer to the climax of this story. There's still a little ways to go, but it won't be long before the epic showdown between Kirito and Donis.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	17. Journey Into Leng

**Author's Note:** I apologize again for yet another fairly short chapter, especially after having such a long delay with it. The main reason for the delay is because I was trying to wrap up that one Digimon story I decided to revive, which I managed to do this past Thursday. The other reason for the delay is because I decided to do a bit of a rethink on this chapter regarding the battle it contains.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online (or the works of H.P. Lovecraft).

* * *

Chapter 17: Journey Into Leng

It did not take long for Kirito and the others to reach the mound that would take them back into the underground cities of K'n-yan, Yoth and N'kai. They all knew that they were going down there at a dangerous time, as the encounter rate for the horrid monsters that stalked those cities greatly increased at night. Yet despite the increased encounter rate, Kirito and the others didn't have much of a choice. Not if they wanted to get to the entrance to Leng and face Donis. They had to make it back down to N'kai, even if they had to hack and slash their way through entire armies of headless warriors and black blobs.

Despite the nighttime hours, Kirito's team somehow made it through the tunnel into K'n-yan without encountering a single headless sentinel. When they finally arrived in that blue-lit city of ancient death, they encountered the bearded old man who Kirito and Asuna both knew as the Traveler.

"What's that NPC doing down here?" Asuna asked.

"I don't know." Kirito answered. "Unless… if a quest had somehow been initiated either by me getting the Master's Blade or by Sugu and Donis opening the door to N'kai, maybe that quest isn't done."

"You saying that maybe this quest you're talking about might have a second half to it?" Klein asked.

"Only one way to find out." Kirit replied before walking towards the old man.

The Traveler instantly walked up to Kirito as soon as he came a certain distance. "It is good to see you again, fairy swordsman. Your arrival could not have been any sooner."

"Why are you here?" Kirito asked.

"Because the danger to this world has not yet passed." The Traveler answered. "Though you may have defeated the Sleeper of N'kai, you've yet to face the Crawling Chaos. He has only just made his move and set things in motion to open this world to unimaginable horror. If nothing is done quickly, this world will not survive the chaos that is to come."

"What do you want me to do?" Kirito asked.

"You must journey to N'kai to travel to the Plateau of Leng." The Traveler answered. "There you must face the Crawling Chaos and put an end to his twisted ambition before it is too late. When the hour strikes midnight, the sky will burst open and spew forth an unimaginable madness. You alone are the only one who can stop it, for you are the only one worthy of wielding the Master's Blade. Let me accompany you, and I will help you reach the plateau."

With that, a holographic screen showing the Traveler's request to join his party appeared before him. Kirito turned to the others to decide what to do.

"I don't know man. Do we really wanna take on a quest like this right now?" Klein asked. "I mean we're already kind involved in something."

"I agree. Why don't we come back to this guy after we castrate Donis?" Lisbeth suggested.

"I hear what you're all saying, but… we are heading to this Plateau of Leng anyway." Kirito pointed out. "Besides, this kinda sounds like it's connected to something happening in this game that only Asuna and I know about."

"Care to share what that is?" Sinon asked.

"…Not now." Kirito decided. "I can tell you that this quest is probably very important. Let's go ahead and take care of it, then when it's done we can kick Donis's ass."

With that, Kirito pressed the accept button on the Traveler's request.

"Come. We must make haste." The old man told them. "Our time grows shorter with each passing second."

The team made its way to the building that housed the entrance into Yoth. They encountered a few of the headless women upon entering the building, but made short work of them. Only a few minutes later they finally made it into Yoth. The red-lit city seemed eerily silent when they arrived. The team did not encounter a single black blob lucking among the buildings of the dead metropolis. The only explanation that the team could come to where the blobs were concerned was that luck seemed to be on their side.

After another few minutes, the team made it to the primordial black temple that housed the forbidden entrance into N'kai. They went in and journeyed down the long dark tunnel, eventually making it into the black underground world lit only by the florescent moss growing on its walls. The team was instantly assaulted by the noxious scent of N'kai as soon as they went in. It was not too much longer before the reached the large box-shaped temple that had once housed Tasthoggua and seemed to be their only way to get to Leng.

"Are we absolutely sure about this?" Siune asked. "If Tsathoggua has re-spawned, I'm not sure we can beat him."

"We don't have much choice." Asuna told her. "If Tsathoggua has re-spawned since we were here last, we'll just have to deal with it. Hopefully the Traveler may be able to give us an edge if he has."

"Our time grows ever shorter." The Traveler told them. "We must press on, or all will be lost."

"Let's go." Kirito told them.

Within moments after crossing the bridge over one of the rivers of black ooze, the team entered the temple. They readied their weapons in case Tsathoggua truly had returned, but what they found instead was the last thing any of them expected. Standing in Tsathoggua's original spot in the cavernous room was Selene.

"Hey there." The imp woman greeted. "Kind of a weird night to be strolling around N'kai, don't you think? By the way, if you were worried about running into that Tsathoggua thing, the word is that he won't re-spawn for at least another two weeks."

"What the hell are you doing here?" Lisbeth demanded to know.

"Donis got in touch with me a while ago after I came back from being a pin cushion." Selene explained. "He told me that you guys were going to try to get to that Leng place and come after him and asked me to stop you. I've got no clue why he wants you stopped, but I decided that it would be a good chance for me to get even with Liz and Sinon. Well… mostly Sinon. Nobody PKs me and gets away with it."

"We don't have time to deal with you, Selene!" Sinon told her. "If you wanna settle things with me, come and find me later."

"Nah, I don't think so." Selene replied. "Besides, this is the best chance for me to test out my new power."

"What new power?" Lisbeth asked.

"You remember how I said that Donis was doing something to give me a new skill when you saw me and him getting it on in the forest?" Selene reminded her. "Let me show you what it let's me do."

Selene began chanting an odd spell that Kirito and the others had never heard before. Suddenly globs started to rise up from the stream of black ooze inside the chamber and floated down onto the floor. Rather than becoming regular black blobs though, the globules became pitch-black duplicates of Selene. There were forty duplicates in all, each with its own HP gauge.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Selene told them. "Of course this power does have a few drawbacks. I can only use it down here in this sewer of a dungeon. Not only that, making them costs a good chunk of MP, and I can't really control any of them directly. They pretty much run on autopilot, but I can program who or what I want them to attack. And right now, their targets are all of you. Get 'em, laides!"

The ooze duplicates of Selene dashed across the empty boss room at Kirito and the others drawing swords that were made of the same black material as their bodies. Kirito slashed at the one that came at him with Excalibur. The duplicate blocked it with her own blade, only for Kirito to slash her across the stomach with the Master's Blade, causing her to turn white and her HP gauge to go into the red zone. Kirito finished the duplicate off with a slash down the middle with Excalibur, causing her to burst like a popped balloon. Kirito was relieved that the duplicates had the same weaknesses as the blobs, though their sheer numbers combined with the fact that they seemed to fight like their creator made them quite formidable.

"This is turning out to be easier than I thought." Selene remarked. "I'm not even having to break a sweat with this."

"Do you even know who you're fighting for?" Kirito asked as he slashed through another one of Selene's doppelgängers. "I don't know who you think Donis is, but he's not someone who you should be going to all this effort for! He copied my avatar to use for himself! What does that tell you about him?"

"What the hell do I care?" Selene asked as she shrugged indifferently. "So he ripped off your avatar somehow. Big deal. Like I told you, this is revenge for the way Sinon PKed me before."

"Dammit! Don't you care about anything, Selene?" Lisbeth asked as she struck another one of the duplicates on top of the head with her mace.

"Not in this world." Selene answered. "Sure I fight hard, but none of it's real. You guys seem to take things in this world way too seriously."

"That's because we love this game!" Asuna told her as she struck one of the duplicates with her Mother's Rosario move to finish it off. "I don't know what your reasons for playing it are, but if you ask me not caring about anything here is the same as not caring about anything in the real world! So if that's your attitude about, you must not care about anything at all!"

"I do care about one thing, and that's winning." Selene told her. "And I'm going to cream you all in this little battle we're having."

Suddenly the Traveler raised his staff and began chanting a spell unfamiliar to Kirito and the others. A bolt of blue energy shot up from the end of the old man's staff into the air and exploded. Several bolts of lightning came down and struck the remaining duplicates, brining their HP to zero.

"I do not know who you are, fairy swordswoman, but we do not have time to waste with the likes of you!" the Traveler told her. "Do you not know that this world is in peril?"

"Are you guys on some sort of quest?" Selene asked. "Well, sorry to screw things up for you, but I'm afraid you're going to fail it."

With that, Selene chanted the same spell that she had used before to create the duplicates. Forty more globs of the black ooze rose up and transformed into another set of Selene clones.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Klein exclaimed. "How many of these things is she gonna send at us?"

"This isn't as bad as the time with fought Tsathoggua, since she can't keep making those blob golems forever." Kirito pointed out. "Still, this could be a long battle and we don't have the time."

"How do we stop her though?" Lisbeth asked. "Chances are we'll run out of steam before she runs out of MP."

"If we can take her out directly, there's a chance that these golems will disappear with her." Sinon suggested.

"But how do we get at her?" Siune asked.

"Leave it to me." Sinon told her as she strung one of her arrows.

Sinon aimed her bow at the far corner of the boss room on her left. She shot three arrows in rapid succession at the spot. Each arrow disappeared into the shadows of that spot, only to come out from behind Selene and hit her in the back. After being hit with a fourth arrow, Selene's HP dropped to zero and her ooze duplicates shattered to bits.

Selene fell to her knees. "How… how did you…?"

"You're not the only one who ended up with a special skill from sleeping with Donis." Sinon told her.

Selene fell on her face and turned into a floating ball of purple flames. Kirito and the others turned to look at Sinon.

"I was wondering where you ended up with that little ability." Lisbeth told the archer.

"The ritual for obtaining that power was in the _Necronomicon_." Sinon explained. After a moment, she gave Asuna a small smirk. "Hey Asuna. If you and Kirito are interested, I could let you borrow it. There might be a ritual or two from that book you might be interested in trying."

"Uh… I'll think about it." Asuna replied with a heavy blush.

"We have little time to waste!" the Traveler reminded them.

The old man chanted another spell, and all the damage Kirito and the others had taken from fighting Selene's duplicates had been healed. Kirito and the others then followed the Traveler to a seemingly black spot on the boss room wall. Kirito recognized the spot as the place where the door to the hidden room was. After the Traveler chanted another spell, the stone door opened on its own. Upon going inside, it seemed to Kirito and the others that the cylindrical room was a dead end.

"So how do we get to this Plateau of Leng from here?" Siune asked.

"This room must be like some kind of teleporter." Klein assumed. "The only question is how do we activate it?"

"Leave that to me." The Traveler answered as he aimed his staff at the green crystal mounted in the wall.

As the Traveler chanted yet another spell, a beam of yellow light flowed from the end of his staff into the crystal. The crystal flashed and soon the room was washed out in a dazzling flash of white light. When the light faded, Kirito and the others found that they were in another set of ruins somewhere.

"We have arrived." The Traveler told them. "Follow me. I know where the Crawling Chaos is."

"So I guess we're taking care of this chaos thing first." Lisbeth realized.

"It doesn't seem like we have a choice." Kirito told them. "We'll take care of this quest as quickly as possible, and when we're done we'll go find Donis and give him the beating he deserves."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Well, I hope this chapter wasn't too lame. I had originally planned for Kirito and the others to fight Tsathoggua again, but decided for whatever reason that such a battle might've been a little repetitive. So I decided to have Selene use a similar trick to Tsathoggua's. Anyway, we're getting near the climax of this story, so stay tuned.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	18. The Crawling Chaos

**Author's Note:** I apologize for the long delay so close to the climax of this story. Part of the reason for the delay is because I had decided to try launching the next story in my series of Digimon fanfics now called the Radiance Mythos, not that it's been getting too many readers. The other part of the reason for the delay is that I've had kind of a rough few days since the last update. I seem to be feeling better now though, so I'm going to try and use whatever free time I can get during the next week or so to get this story finished.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online (or the works of H.P. Lovecraft).

* * *

Chapter 18: The Crawling Chaos

Kirito and the others followed the Traveler across Leng to where the Crawling Chaos was supposedly waiting. The trek across the plateau had been relatively peaceful, though the occasional musical piping noise of the wind blowing across the haunted landscape had unsettled the team slightly. Eventually the team's elderly guide brought them to the little hot tub that Donis had created, and when they arrived they found the gold swordsman himself standing at the edge to the bubbling pool. Leafa was standing next to him, and at the exact moment of their arrival much of her body was giving off a flash of blue light, indicating that she was just putting her clothes back on. The mere sight caused Kirito's hands to ball into fists at his sides.

"Donis!" Kirito shouted from where he stood, causing the couple to look.

"K-Kazuto?" a stunned Leafa responded. "What… what are all of you doing here?"

"Indeed. Your arrival here is quite unexpected." Donis agreed as a scowl came to his face. "Not to mention unwanted. I don't know what sort of trick you used to get here Kirito, but I'm afraid you and your friends aren't wanted. I ask that you leave now."

"Does that go for me and Sinon too Donis?" Lisbeth asked. "If I were you, I'd be a lot more nervous."

"It doesn't matter if we're welcome here or not." Sinon pointed out as she aimed an arrow at Donis's face. "We're kicking his ass right now!"

With that, Sinon let go of her bowstring and fired the arrow. Just as the projectile zoomed towards Donis's face, he quickly drew the sword for his right hand and knocked the arrow away, much to the surprise of Kirito and the others.

"He's fast!" Siune observed.

"Liz! Sinon! What's this all about?" Leafa demanded to know. "Why'd you just attack Donis like that?"

"Leafa, Donis isn't who we all thought he was." Sinon told him.

"What're you talking about?" Leafa asked.

"Sugu, get away him!" Kirito ordered as he drew his swords. "I'm gonna cut this bastard to shreds right now!"

"You're welcome to try!" Donis dared as he drew his other sword.

Kirito charged at Donis and attempted to slash him across the chest with the Master's Blade. Donis blocked the attack and managed to stab Kirito in the stomach with his other sword. The black swordsman quickly recovered and managed to get Donis in the side with Excalibur. Suddenly Leafa charged in with her Tempest Sword drawn and swung it at Kirito, prompting Donis to fall back. Kirito managed to block Leafa's first attack with his swords, but her second attack managed to slash him across the stomach.

"Sugu! What're you doing?" a shocked Kirito asked.

"What the hell does it look like?" Leafa responded as she took another swing, which he managed to dodge. "If you wanna get to Donis, you're going to have to go through me first!"

"Donis isn't who you think he is, Sugu!" Kirito told her. "I don't know what he told you, but everything about him is a lie."

"Why? Because he happens to have the same face as you in this game?" Leafa asked. "That's what all this is about, isn't it?"

"Sugu, Donis's avatar and mine look too much alike for it to be just a coincidence!" Kirito told her. "And it's not just that we look alike. There's other stuff you need to know about too."

"You just can't let me be happy, can you?" Leafa assumed. "First when we met in this game I moved on from you only to fall for you all over again. Then when I finally move on from you again and meet someone else, you say there's a problem with him! Well I've had enough!"

"Oh man. This is nuts!" Klein declared as Kirito fended off another attack from his sister. "I did not see this coming!"

"Leafa's really fallen hard for that asshole." Lisbeth observed. "Probably a lot harder than Sinon and I ever did."

"So what do we do then?" Siune asked. "Are we just supposed to fight Leafa too?"

"Yui, wait here with Siune." Asuna requested as she put her hand on her sword. "I'll take care of this."

Once Yui flew over to sit on Siune's shoulder, Asuna dashed in and blocked Leafa's attack on Kirito. Before the blonde could launch a proper counter attack, Asuna struck her several times with her rapier. Leafa took several hits to the torso and shoulders and was on her knee in a matter of seconds. Her HP gauge had fallen into the low yellow.

"That's enough, Leafa!" Asuna told her. "Just back off! None of us want to fight, especially not Kirito."

"I'm not backing down!" Leafa declared as she rose back to her feet. "What is with the two of you, anyway? Why are you trying to tear down my happiness like this?"

"We're not trying to tear down anything." Asuna told her. "Kirito and I are just trying to protect you."

"That's total crap, and you know it!" Leafa insisted as tears came to her eyes. "Can't you just be happy for me? I finally found the kind of happiness that you and Kazuto, and all the two of you want to do is destroy it!"

"But that's just it Leafa. You and Donis don't have what Kirito and I have." Asuna told her. "He may look like Kirito and be as charming as a prince from a fairytale, but every single thing about Donis is a lie."

"You don't know that!" Leafa told her. "Maybe Donis and I have never met in the real world, but I know exactly the kind of man he is."

"No. You don't, Leafa." Sinon told her as she stepped forward. "There's something you need to know. Donis and I… we've been seeing each other in this game. He and I have slept together several times."

All the color drained from Leafa's face. "You… you what?"

"It's not just Sinon. I've been seeing Donis on the side too." Lisbeth admitted as she stepped up. "Why do you think I've been closing the shop early so many times this past month."

"From what little we've learned, Donis has been sleeping with practically every member of his guild." Asuna informed the blonde. "Liz and Sinon only found this out today."

"You're… you're lying." A horrified Leafa spoke. "You're all lying! Donis, this isn't… tell them that what they're saying isn't true!"

Donis sighed and shook his head. "I suppose this little revelation was inevitable. It's a pity, really. I was hoping I could carry on with all of you for a bit longer, but I see that's impossible now. Of course in the end it doesn't really matter, as all of you have served your purpose."

"So you actually had the guts to admit it, huh?" Lisbeth asked. "Just what were all of us to you, anyway? Were you trying to win pervert of the year or something?"

"My…'associations' with all of you wasn't merely recreational." Donis answered. "Each of you had a specific purpose in my grand design. For instance you, my dear Lisbeth, were needed in order to forge the proper equipment to safely delve into the mound so that I may get here to Leng. As for you Sinon, I simply needed you, as well as Selene and a few others to act as soldiers to fight all the creatures standing in my way. The little rites we performed during the night were done to make you more effective in that capacity."

"You slimy son of a bitch." Sinon cursed as she aimed an arrow at Donis's crotch. "I may not be able to actually kill you in this game, but I'm gonna make your death hurt like hell."

"Make sure to save a piece of him for me, Sinon." Lisbeth told her. "I wanna make him suffer just as much as you do."

"Mind if I help you ladies out?" Klein requested as he stepped forward and drew his sword. "I know you and Kirito have more of a right to this asshole than I do, but guys like him give guys like me a bad name."

As Sinon and the others prepared to attack, Yui flew over to where the Traveler was standing. "Excuse me Mr. Traveler, but why are you no longer taking us to where this Crawling Chaos is supposed to be waiting?"

"I would think the answer to that would be clear to a child like you." The old man answered. "The battle I have called you here for is already at hand."

Meanwhile, just as Lisbeth was about to charge at Donis with Klein and Asuna, Donis chanted a spell that caused four bolts of green lightning to rain down from the sky. The lightning blasts came down and struck Asuna, Klein, Lisbeth and Sinon, causing the paralysis icon to appear by each of their HP gauges. As the four of them started to fall to the ground, Donis charged forward and slashed Asuna several times with his blades. Asuna's HP gauge had fallen to a red sliver.

"All of you have become more trouble than you're worth." Donis declared as he held the blade of his right hand sword to Asuna's throat. "I'm going to finish all of you off right now."

As Donis raised his sword to take off Asuna's head, Kirito charged in and slashed his doppelgänger across the back with the Master's Blade. Donis cried out in pain and his body flashed in negative colored. Kirito quickly hit Donis again with Excalibur, followed up by another strike from his other sword. Before Kirito could score a fifth hit, Donis managed to quickly turn around and block the attack. Donis fell back and Kirito got between him and Asuna.

"Looks like you forgot about me." Kirito noted as Siune rushed over to tend to their fallen comrades. "Big mistake."

"Indeed. You're quite the threat with that accursed sword of yours." Donis admitted. "The metal it was forged from must have been created by the Elder Gods. Otherwise you'd be as weak as those pathetic friends of yours."

"Just what the hell is your deal, anyway?" Kirito asked. "I'm guessing those spells of yours like the ones you just used here and the one you used against Tsathoggua are some kind of illegal moves you put into the game, but what's the point of all of this?"

"Are you asking why I went to all the trouble of getting here to Leng?" Donis asked. "It is so that the age of chaos can finally begin! That crystal you see in the center of that little pool over there is the key to opening a door that will allow the great Azathoth to come to this plain! As much as I loathe my blind moronic progenitor, the age of madness he will bring forth is my ultimate dream!"

"The key?" Kirito spoke. "So you're the reason why that countdown clock appeared in ALO!"

"Your dear Leafa was the one who helped me turn it on." Donis revealed. "Her willingness to give her very being to me was the catalyst the key needed to activate it. It's a pity you and your friends had to arrive and spoil my fun. She would've enjoyed a life of unbridled ecstasy in the new age as my personal consort, but now she will simply have to be wiped away with you and all the others."

"You've been connected to that Azathoth virus this whole time!" Kirito realized. "Just who the hell are you anyway?"

"Daddy! Donis is an NPC!" Yui called. "He's the Crawling Chaos that the Traveler was taking us to!"

"He's… what?" a stunned Kirito responded. "But Yui, how's that even possible?"

"He's an A.I. The most sophisticated one I've ever seen." Yui answered. "It's like the Cardinal System designed him to fool others into thinking he was a player."

Asuna finally got back to her feet. "So… he's not real at all? Donis is just something created by that virus like this whole landscape?"

"I've had enough of this!" Kirito told Donis. "It's time you showed us your true face!"

"My true face, eh?" Donis chuckled. "I have over a thousand faces to choose from. But since you asked for it, I'll change to a face that's an old favorite of mine."

With that, Donis sheathed his two swords and began to glow with a green light. As Lisbeth and Sinon finally got back to their feet, they watched with the others as the glowing silhouette began to change shape. It was only a few seconds before the light faded to reveal the gold swordsman's new form. He had become a man who appeared to be in his late thirties with handsome Middle Eastern features. On his head was the cobra hood headdress worn originally by the pharaoh's of ancient Egypt. Ornate gold armor covered his torso, and a pair of swords hung at his waist. Gold sandals covered the man's feet, and on his upper arms was a pair of gold rings.

A red cursor appeared above the man's head along with a full HP gauge. Right above the cursor in white letters was the name, "Nyarlathotep the Pharaoh".

All of the color drained from Sinon's face upon seeing the name. "No… no way! All this time, Donis was… oh god!"

"What is it?" Lisbeth asked. "Do you know who the guy Donis turned into is supposed to be?"

"That's Nyralathotep. One of the most powerful gods in Lovecraft's stories." Sinon explained. "He's sort of a shape shifter who goes around spreading madness. To think that he and I… oh god!"

"I am the Crawling Chaos! Nyarlathotep!" the pharaoh declared. "This world now belongs to me and my fellow gods of madness, and there's nothing that you pathetic fairy folk can do about it! The age of madness begins now!"

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I apologize for the shortness of this chapter. It's kind of the best I'm able to do at the moment, and it's kind of hard to right long chapters at the moment of a story's climax. To my guest reviewer, SuperSaiyanGod53, I believe that in one of your recent reviews you remarked on how Donis would have to have one heck of a stamina stat to go so many rounds with all those women. Considering that Donis is in fact a sort of alien god in the world of ALO, I would think it goes without saying that such a being would have practically unlimited stamina.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	19. Virtual Adonis

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online (or the works of H.P. Lovecraft).

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Chapter 19: Virtual Adonis

"Donis, this… this can't be true. Can it?" a horrified Leafa asked, again on the verge of tears. "This is some kind of joke, right? You're not… really this thing… are you?"

"Tell me something, Nyarlathotep. Why did you decide to use my form for your little disguise?" Kirito asked.

"I needed a woman to activate the key that would bring forth Azathoth." Nyarlathotep explained. "For that reason, I decided that I would need to enlist as many women followers as possible, hoping that one of them would have the requirements I needed. So I scoured your world for one who had a way with women so I could borrow his form. You, my friend, fit those specifications exactly."

"He chose daddy's avatar as a disguise based on his amount of interaction with female players!" Yui realized.

"In other words, being a babe magnet totally worked against him." Klein restated.

"I became the Adonis of their dreams." Nyarlathotep continued. "The young man who they all fantasized about in the middle of the night. You should feel honored Kirito. They same that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Being imitated by someone as great as me should be the greatest compliment of all."

"You bastard!" Kirito cursed. "You used my sister, my friends and all those other players for this twisted plan of yours! I'm gonna make you pay!"

"You're more than welcome to try." Nyarlathotep dared as he drew his two swords. "To be honest, I've actually been quite eager for this battle. Come at me with all you've got!"

Kirito cried out as he charged at Nyarlathotep with Excalibur raised in the air. When he came in range he swung down the gold sword with all his strength to cut the alien god the chest, only for Nyarlathotep to block the attack with one of his own blade. Kirito then hit Nyarlathotep in the side with the Master's Blade, causing him to cry out in pain and his body to flash with negative colors. Yet unlike the time Kirito had fought the god of madness when he was Donis, Nyarlathotep's HP gauge had only dropped by a relatively small amount.

"That sword of yours is a real problem." Nyarlathotep remarked as he recovered from the attack. "Fortunately in my current form I'm not as weak against it as I was when we last faced each other."

"Shouldn't we help Kirito with this battle?" Siune asked. "I mean this is a boss fight, isn't it?"

"It's better that we stay out of the way in this battle." Asuna answered. "This is has become very personal for Kirito."

"Besides, that Nyarlathotep jerk only has one HP gauge." Klein added. "How tough can he really be to take down?"

Kirito and Nyarlathotep continued to clash blades. Their movements were so fast that it was hard for the others to follow exactly what was going on. Kirito had managed to strike a few more blows with the Master's Blade, leaving the god of madness with only a little more than half of his original HP. At the same time though, Nyarlathotep had managed to force Kirito back quite a few steps. Later on in the battle Kirito dropped his guard for only a split second, which gave Nyarlathotep an opening to slash Kirito in the chest five times. The attack brought Kirito's HP gauge into the low yellow.

"You've endured me much longer than I thought you would." Nyarlathotep remarked as Kirito tried to catch his breath. "Keep in mind that I know exactly how you fight. I was posing as you, after all. A better version of you."

"Don't think for a second that you were ever better than me." Kirito told him. "You're just a cheap con artist who used my face! There's no way in hell that a copy is better than the genuine article."

"Your dear Leafa seemed to think differently." Nyarlathotep told him. "After all, I was able to satisfy her in a way that you never could."

Upon hearing this, Kirito cried out and swung Excalibur towards Nyarlathotep's face. The alien god quickly brought up the sword in his right hand to block the strike, but Kirito's golden sword broke the blade in half.

Nyarlathotep looked at his broken sword. "It seems I've struck a nerve."

Kirito renewed his attack and slashed wildly at Nyarlathotep. The god of madness could only block one sword strike at a time with his second sword broken. Within seconds Nyarlathotep's HP gauge had been reduced to a red sliver. As soon as Kirito saw an opening, he swung the Master's Blade towards Nyarlathotep's side. Leafa called out to him to stop, but the black swordsman was deaf to her pleas as he sliced into Nyarlathotep, cutting him in half. Nyarlathotep's HP went to zero and the two halves of his body shattered into blue polygons.

With Nyarlathotep finished, Kirito walked back over to the others. "It's over."

"I'm afraid that the battle is not over yet, fairy swordsman." The Traveler told him. "The Crawling Chaos has not been finished off yet."

Suddenly the air became filled by the laughter of a chorus of strange voices more haunting than the musical piping noise created by the wing blowing through Leng. The voices were all of different pitches, and to the team it sounded like there were thousands of them.

"Foolish fairies." The chorus spoke. "You may have defeated one of my avatars, but I have many more of them to choose from. I believe I have one that will properly illustrate my point."

Suddenly a small glob of grey flesh appeared in the air where Nyarlathotep once stood and quickly began to expand. In seconds the glob began to take the shape of a large creature with the body of a hairless grey feline with a cord-like tail. A head sprouted from the body of the creature, but it was not the head of a lion or any sort of cat. The head was more like that of a human, only it lacked a face. Not even a pair of eyes or a mouth was even present. Appearing on the creature's head with a strange black mist was the black and red headdress of an Egyptian pharaoh. Bands of black metal appeared around the creature's ankles with the same black mist.

A pair of massive red-feathered wings sprouted on the feline monster's back. On the front of each wing towards the top was a large yellow feline eye with a slit pupil. A red cursor appeared above the creature's head along with five HP gauges. Right above the cursor in white letters was the name, "Nyarlathotep the Faceless God".

"I am the essence of chaos itself!" Nyarlathotep declared in a deep growling voice. "I am formless but at the same time have many forms! I am infinite! And there is no way that a group of pathetic insects like you can defeat me!"

The Traveler banged his staff on the ground, causing the top of it to give off a brilliant flash of white light. Kirito's HP quickly went back to a hundred percent, and soon after the HP and MP gauges of everyone on the team went up beyond their normal limits, as did Leafa's.

"The true battle begins now." The Traveler told them. "If the Crawling Chaos is not stopped here, he will spread the madness of Azathoth to every corner of the world."

"Who are you, anyway?" Kirito asked the old man.

The Traveler merely smirked. "You will know when the time comes."

"Well, it looks like we've found ourselves in another boss fight." Klein observed. "And a real nasty one too."

"This won't be like any other boss fight we've been in." Yui told them. "Because Nyarlathotep is an A.I., he won't be following any sort of attack pattern."

"In other words, we better be ready for anything." Kirito realized. "I don't think anyone has faced a boss driven by an A.I. before, so who knows Nyarlathotep is capable of?"

"Siune, can you handle healing everyone on your own?" Asuna requested. "It's probably better if I help out on the front lines against an enemy like this."

"Don't worry. I've got it covered." Siune assured her.

Lisbeth accessed her inventory menu and caused a sword to appear in her hand, which she then handed to Asuna. "Here Asuna. This rapier is made from the metal found down in the mound. It should give you an edge against… that thing."

"Thanks Liz." Asuna replied as she took the sword.

"Hey Sinon. You ready for this?" Lisbeth asked the archer.

"Huh?" Sinon responded as if suddenly shaken from her thoughts. "Oh. Yeah. Let's do this."

"Sugu, you ready?" Kirito asked. Leafa was frozen and seemed to be staring off into space. "Sugu?"

"Let her be for right now, Kirito." Asuna told him as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "I don't think she's in any condition to fight at the moment."

Kirito turned his attention back to Nyarlathotep. "Okay then… let's go!"

Asuna, Kirito, Lisbeth and Klein charged at the faceless sphinx with their weapons raised. At the same time, Sinon took aim with her bow and quickly fired two arrows in quick succession. The arrows struck Nyarlathotep on the spot of his missing face and took small chunks off his first HP. Kirito and Asuna took off into the air with their wings while Klein and Lisbeth continued to charge in from the ground. As soon as Lisbeth and Klein came in range, Nyarlathotep swatted them away with his right paw.

Meanwhile, Kirito flew in from the left and slashed at Nyarlathotep several times with his swords. At the same time, Asuna flew in from the right and hit the faceless sphinx with a Mother's Rosario attack. Both attacks combined with a few more arrows from Sinon reduced Nyarlathotep's first HP gauge to less than half of what it originally was. Nyarlathotep turned around and attempted to swat Asuna away with one of his paws. Asuna quickly flew back to evade the attack. Soon after, Kirito got above the faceless sphinx and stabbed him in the back with the Master's Blade. Back on the ground, Lisbeth and Klein had gotten back up and began attacking Nyarlathotep's hind legs.

As Kirito continued attacking Nyarlathotep's back, the eyes on his wings began to glow red. Suddenly the sphinx's body began to give off a fiery orange aura and his body seemed to heat up, forcing Kirito to fly off. The eyes on Nyarlathotep's wings began to fire off a barrage of red laser beams in almost every direction. Asuna and Kirito somehow managed to avoid the attack, but everyone else ended up getting hit. The team regrouped on the ground and Siune used her healing magic on them.

"Yui sure wasn't kidding. This guy doesn't fight like a normal boss." Klein told the others. "His attacks seem kinda random. It's probably gonna take hours to take him down, that is if we even can."

"We don't really have that kind of time." Kirito told him.

"What do you mean?" Lisbeth asked.

"It's probably better right now if you don't know." Kirito answered as he exchanged a look with Asuna. "Let's just hit him as fast and as hard as we can!"

With that, Kirito and the others began to charge at Nyarlathotep again. Only seconds after they did though, Nyarlathotep flapped his wings and hit the team with a wave of a strange yellow energy. The attack did not to any damage, but Kirito and the others seemed to be completely frozen. Even the arrows that Sinon had just fired seemed to be suspended in midair. Kirito was totally aware of what was going on around him. He couldn't move a muscle, but by his HP gauge he could see a strange icon that resembled an hourglass. The only ones besides Nyarlathotep who didn't appear to be frozen were the Traveler and Leafa, and it was at the point when Kirito and the others had become frozen when she seemed to snap out of the trance she had been in.

Nyarlathotep chuckled. "I could've hurled you back to before the dawn of time itself, but I decided that it'd be more fun to freeze time in the space around you for a bit so I could torture you."

The faceless sphinx flapped his red wings again, and from his wings shot forth several bolts of red lightning that shocked Kirito and the others. The team members remained frozen where they were, but their HP gauges had dropped into the red zone.

"Can't take much punishment in this state, can you?" Nyarlathotep observed. "Ah well. I was beginning to grow board with all of you anyway."

"Donis! Nyarlathotep!" Leafa called, getting the faceless god's attention. "Please… stop this! I… I don't want you doing this to my brother."

"Why dear Leafa. I nearly forgot about you." Nyarlathotep responded. "I'll be with you in a moment after I destroy Kirito and his friends."

"No. I want you to stop this." Leafa told him as she got between the sphinx and Kirito. "Can't… can't we just go back to the way things were? Can't you go back to being Donis? I'll… I'll do whatever you want me to do if you'll just stop this and go back to being the man I… I…"

Nyarlathotep let out a cold chuckle. "You foolish girl. Haven't you realized by now that you were only a means to an end? You served your purpose by helping me open the gate, but now your usefulness is at an end. I had thought about keeping you around for further amusement, but that no longer seems possible. Once I'm done with Kirito, you shall be the next to die."

Tears began to roll down Leafa's cheeks. "I see… so none of what we had was ever real. It was all just a big trick."

"Sorry to disappoint you." Nyarlathotep told her. "If it's any consolation though, I found you to be quite good in bed."

At those words, Leafa cried out and drew the sword she used for fighting the creatures in the mound. The blonde swung the blade as hard as she could and sent forth a blast of energy up at the faceless sphinx. A ball of transparent energy appeared around Nyarlathotep's head and shocked him before exploding, taking another chunk off his first HP gauge. Before Nyarlathotep could fully recover, Leafa flew towards him and slashed him in the spot where his face would've been with the blade. The eyes on Nyarlathotep's wings began to glow and send a barrage of laser beams at Leafa. The beams hit their target and took a large amount off of Leafa's HP. Leafa recovered and fell back a ways to fired another blast from her sword, but before she could launch the attack Nyarlathotep swatted her away with his paw.

The attack knocked Leafa to the ground and also broke her sword in half. The two halves of the sword shattered apart into blue polygons.

"Now you've lost your best weapon against me." Nyarlathotep observed as Leafa got back to her feet. "What are you going to do now that you no longer have a sword?"

"You forget, Donis. I do have another sword." Leafa reminded him as she accessed her menu. "The sword you helped me to get the material for!"

Leafa's Tempest Sword appeared at her waist with a blue flash. The blonde took off back into the air as she drew the blade and managed to slash Nyarlathotep again on the front of his faceless head. Unfortunately the attack didn't do as much damaged as the attack with her other sword had caused. Nyarlathotep growled and fired more energy beams from the eyes on his wings. The beams curved and struck Leafa where she hovered as they had done before. Leafa's sword broke and her HP fell to zero.

Leafa managed to float back to the ground and turned to face Kirito. "Kaztuo… I'm sorry."

With that, Leafa began a floating ball of phosphorescent green flames. Kirito would have called Leafa's name had his body hadn't been frozen.

Nyarlathotep let out another cold chuckle. "What a foolish girl. She tried so hard to protect those she cared about, and in the end it was all for nothing. And now, Kirito… it is time to finish this!"

The faceless sphinx fired more bolts of red lightning from his wings at Kirito and the rest of the team. Before the attack could hit though, the Traveler hit the ground with his staff and a wall of white light appeared in front of the team and blocked the attack. When the wall vanished, the icon by Kirito's HP gauge vanished and he and the others found that they were no longer frozen. The arrows that Sinon had fired continued on their path and struck Nyarlathotep, at last brining his first HP gauge into the red zone.

"This has gone on long enough!" the Traveler declared. "Now that I have seen the extent of your power, I can no longer afford to remain idle."

"You dare to interfere with me, old man?" Nyarlathotep asked. "I demand to know who you are!"

Suddenly the Traveler began to glow with a blinding white light that caused Kirito and the others to turn around. When the light cleared, the Traveler had grown into a giant that stood at about twenty feet tall. His long white beard grew half way down his chest, and a gold metal patch covered one of his eyes. The old man was dressed in white robes with golden armor covering his chest and shoulders. In his right hand he held a long golden spear with a large pointed head decorated with gold wings at its base. A green cursor appeared above the old giant's head along with five HP gauges. Above his cursor in white letters was the name, Odin.

"Whoa! That is one badass-looking Santa." Klein remarked.

"That's Odin, the king of the Norse gods." Kirito identified. "The Traveler was only a disguise, just like how Thor had disguised himself during the Excalibur quest."

"Well, at least he didn't disguise himself as a cute girl the way Thor did." Klein recalled. "That was one hell of a disappointment."

"So, an Elder God has come to oppose me." Nyarlathotep observed. "You waste your time, you old fool! You are powerless to stop the coming of my kind to this realm!"

"This land is the kingdom of my people, Nyarlathotep." Odin told him. "As long as I draw breath, I will fight to the end to protect it! You and your loathsome kind are not welcome here!"

Nyarlathotep chuckled. "It is pointless to oppose us. The universe is nothing more than a chaotic existence marching endlessly towards oblivion. Nothing you do here will ever change that."

"There may be some truth to what you say, foul one." Odin admitted. "Even so, we shall fight with everything we have to drive you madness away!"

With that, Odin aimed his spear at Nyarlathotep and fired a beam of white light from the spearhead. The faceless god cried out in pain as the beam struck him in the chest. Nyarlathotep's first HP gauge went to zero and a quarter of his second HP gauge was taken off. The sphinx retaliated by firing beams of energy from his eyes at the Norse god. Odin endured the attack but lot a good-sized chunk off his first HP gauge.

Meanwhile, Kirito saw the flame that had once been Leafa flicker away to nothing. "Let's get back in there. Odin can't take Nyarlathotep down by himself. Besides, if we just stand her and let those two fight it out, everything Sugu did for us will have been for nothing."

"Then let's go." Asuna decided. "This has gone on long enough."

The team charged back into battle as Odin carried on his attacks against Nyarlathotep. Kirito and Asuna attacked from the sides by the air while Lisbeth and Klein attacked from the rear. Sinon backed Odin up as best she could with her arrows. After several minutes of fighting, Nyarlathotep's final HP gauge had been reduced to a red sliver. The faceless sphinx seemed to be catching his breath.

"It's over!" Kirito told Nyarlathotep. "It's just a guess, but I'm thinking that you won't be able to use another avatar once this one's defeated. You've probably reached your limit."

"Perhaps." Nyarlathotep admitted. "But though you may have defeated me, you are too late to stop the age of madness that is to come. In the end, chaos will always win."

Kirito said nothing and slashed Nyarlathotep down the middle of his head with the Master's Blade. The faceless god's HP gauge went to zero and his body shattered into blue polygons. The large message of congratulations that normally appeared when a boss was defeated showed up as Kirito landed on the ground.

"It's finally over." Asuna observed.

"Are we sure he's gone this time?" Klein asked. "I mean he came back before when Kirito beat that other human avatar of his."

"No. This time I think it really is over." Kirito assured him. "Even though Nyarlathotep was an A.I., this battle we just had with him was still part of a game event."

"That's right. It seems that the battle had two parts." Yui observed. "The first part was a battle with Nyarlathotep's pharaoh form, and the second was the actual boss battle where Nyarlathotep takes on a more monstrous form."

"Whatever this was, I'm glad it's over." Lisbeth declared. "Let's log out of here so I can take a shower. The fact that I ever got it on with that… thing just makes my skin crawl."

Suddenly a digital clock face appeared above the crystal key in the middle of the pool and went to zero. The crystal then glowed and fired a beam of orange light into the sky. A massive dark hole began to form in the clouds where the light had struck.

"What's happening?" an alarmed Siune asked.

"The door that the Crawling Chaos sought to unlock has been opened." Odin answered. "I'm afraid that Azathoth will soon be among us."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I hope that Odin's sudden appearance in this story didn't seem too… "convenient", for lack of a better term. When I planned this story originally, I felt that it made sense that one of the Norse gods would try and interfere with Nyarlathotep. And considering how powerful Nyarlathotep and Azathoth were said to be, I decided that the one to interfere should be the king of the Norse Gods himself. I suppose I could've gone with Thor, but he was already used in the anime and I felt like that would've been too "Marvel Comics" (not that being that would've been a bad thing).

Please review and let me know what you think.


	20. Wounded Hearts

**Author's Note:** Here's the final chapter. I hope everybody enjoys it.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Sword Art Online (or the works of H.P. Lovecraft).

* * *

Chapter 20: Wounded Hearts

The hole in the sky opened up to reveal a starscape filled with odd green mist-like clouds. In the center of the opening was an immense and horrid-looking mass of pulsating dark-grey flesh. The thing had fanged mouths all over what was considered its body, each of them opening and closing as if trying to take in air. Also all over the creature's body in places just as random as its mouths were several glowing yellow eyes that lacked pupils. Several small writing tentacles grow all over the abomination like trees. The creature was perhaps the most vile-looking entity that Kirito and the others had ever witnessed in any game. Klein had put his hand over his mouth to keep from vomiting when he saw the monstrosity.

"Is that… is that thing Azathoth?" Lisbeth asked.

"I think that's a pretty safe bet." Kirito answered. "We beat Nyarlathotep too late."

Suddenly Sinon took off into the air flew as high as she could to get close to the opening in the sky. The bluenette then fired off a quick succession of arrows at Azathoth. Each of the arrows flew into the opening, but Sinon couldn't tell if they had hit the creature or if they even did damage if they did.

"I don't know how we're supposed to beat this thing!" Sinon called down to the others. "I can't fly any further up, and I don't think my arrows are even reaching Azathoth!"

"Maybe we could use some sort of attack spell." Siune suggested.

"I don't know. The range of any spell we could use would probably be as limited as Sinon's arrows." Asuna pointed out. "Besides, the best one of us with spells like that is Leafa, and she's not here right now."

"So what? It's game over?" Klein asked.

"Daddy! I'm not detecting any HP gauges attached to Azathoth!" Yui informed him. "I'm not even sure he's really a boss!"

"Then that could mean… the thing we're seeing is somehow the Azathoth virus itself!" Kirito realized.

"The what?" Klein asked with a raised eyebrow. "Kirito, do you know something about what that blob in the sky is?"

"Fairy warriors." Odin spoke. "I thank you for your assistance in fighting the Crawling Chaos, but your role in this battle is finished. It is up to me to slay the ruler of these gods of madness. This battle is far beyond what you're capable of."

With that, Odin raises his spear and aimed the head of it at the hole in the sky. Azathoth fired down a massive beam of green energy from the largest mouth on his body. Sinon quickly flew out of the beam's path as it continued towards the ground. The head of Odin's spear lit with a brilliant white light and created a barrier of gold energy around him and the players still on the ground. When Azathoth's attack ended, Odin fired a beam of white like towards the opening.

The beam hit Azathoth, causing the blind idiot god to give off horrid cries of pain so wretched that they forced Kirito and the others to cover their ears. Odin fired another beam from his spear, striking Azathoth again and causing a massive crack of white light to form on his body. Odin then threw his spear up towards the opening. The spear sailed through the hole in the sky and struck the crack on Azathoth's body. Azathoth exploded with a blast of green flames and smoldering flesh upon being hit. Soon after, the opening began to close and Odin's spear reappeared in his hand with a flash of gold light. The kind of the Norse gods banged the end of his spear on the ground, causing the area to become enveloped in flash of white light.

When the light finally faded, Kirito and the others found that they were back on top of the mound with Odin. The sky above was the normal star-filled sky of ALO.

"I thank you again for your assistance, fairy warriors." Odin told them. "This world would have fallen into endless madness and decay were it not for your help. As my role here is now finished, I take my leave and with you luck with your noble exploits."

Odin banged his spear on the ground again and washed the area out with another blinding flash of light. When the light faded again, the king of the Norse gods was gone.

"Well… it looks like we were able to save ALO after all." Asuna observed.

"I guess so." Kirito replied. "Of course it was Odin who really took down the Azathoth Virus."

"You guys obviously know something about this that the rest of us don't." Lisbeth interrupted. "Care to let us in?"

"Yeah, sorry. Asuna and I did a some digging after we first met Donis to see if ALO had been hacked to copy my character data, and it turns out that some hacker infected the game with a virus." Kirito explained. "Its purpose was to cause ALO to generate things from the stories written by H.P. Lovecraft. So the dungeons under the mound, Leng, even Nyarlathotep and everything else connected to Lovecraft were all caused by the Azathoth Virus."

"You're kidding!" Sinon exclaimed. "So… none of all that were legitimate additions to the game?"

"Not one." Asuna confirmed. "In fact, the people running ALO had been planning to reset the whole game if they couldn't eliminate the virus. But since it looks like we were able to get rid of it, the reset shouldn't happen now."

"Then I guess it's a real good thing we ran into Odin." Klein remarked. "It's because of him that virus thing is dead."

"It's kind of strange that we had to go on a quest to help him do it though." Siune pointed out. "It really seemed like all of this was part of the actual game."

"Actually, it's just a theory I have, but I think that Odin might have been the personification of some security program that Cardinal created to eliminate the virus." Yui suggested. "Perhaps he could've been the embodiment of Cardinal itself. Whatever he was, it looks like his purpose was to eliminate the virus as well as anomalous NPCs like Nyarlathotep."

"But then why go through the quest?" Klein asked.

"It could be that Odin couldn't override the narrative that the Azathoth Virus had put in place." Yui theorized. "So perhaps Cardinal created a quest to have players go through that narrative and allow Odin to accomplish his tasks."

"However it happened, I'm glad it's all over now." Lisbeth declared. "I hope they throw that hacker in jail for fifty years."

"I'll say." Sinon agreed. "What the bastard did… really screwed with a lot of people."

"I hope Leafa will be okay after all of this." Siune interjected. "She seemed to be the one who was hurt the most."

"We better just call it a day." Kirito decided. "I'm probably going to have to have a long talk with Sugu after all log out."

* * *

A week went by after the battles with Nyarlathotep and Azathoth. ALO did not have to be reset, but nothing about the Azathoth Virus or the incidents connected to it had been made public. It seemed that the company behind the game wanted to keep everything covered up to avoid negative scrutiny. As for the Order of Yig, the guild had quickly dissolved with the loss of Donis. Kikuoka and a few other agents from the government had discreetly contacted the former members of the guild in the real world to inform them of Donis's true identity as Nyarlathotep and directed them to seek counseling if they thought they needed it.

That afternoon, Kikuoka had asked Kazuto and Asuna to come meet him after school at the same upscale café where they first learned of the Azathoth Virus. The couple found the government official waiting for them at the same table as before.

"Glad you two could make it." Kikuoka told Asuna and Kazuto as they sat down. "The reason I called you here was to give you an update about what's been happening since the Azathoth Virus was deleted."

"Has the virus come back?" Asuna asked.

"No, but there has been an interesting little development." Kikuoka answered. "It seems that some of the things that the virus added to the game have proven to be so popular among some of the players, the admins at ALO decided to keep most of them in. In fact they're planning on releasing more Lovecraft-themed updates to the game next month."

"Some of the things that the virus added like those dungeons under the mound are actually pretty good." Kazuto admitted. "I've even thought about exploring them a little more closely myself."

"In the end, I guess that hacker who caused all of this sort of got what he wanted." Asuna realized. "He wanted a VRMMO with elements from Lovecraft's stories in them, and now he's got one."

"On that note, I had a little chat with our hacker, Mr. Chiba about that NPC you told me about, Nyarlathotep." Kikouka revealed. "I of course didn't give him any names, but when he learned about some of the things Nyarlathoptep did he seemed horrified. Chiba claimed that he never wanted anything like that to happen in the game. And as hard as it might be for you two to believe, the programmers I've been consulting with on this case think he was telling the truth about that."

"You're saying that Nyarlathotep was an accident?" Kazuto asked sounding a little outraged.

"The Azathoth Virus was programmed to make the version of Cardinal running ALO to gradually add Lovecraftian elements to the game, with the eventual outcome of replacing almost everything already existing in the game with them." Kikuoka explained. "The original Norse mythology elements would've been completely overwritten the Cthulhu Mythos. Chiba even admitted that his goal was to bring ALO into a totally new age. Unfortunately he couldn't make the virus very specific on how to do that, so the corrupted Cardinal System acted on its own to create a narrative to help bring those changes about. The system ended up drawing heavily from the literature connected to the Nyarlathotep character to create an NPC to fulfill that purpose. And because Nyarlathotep needed to fool certain players to achieve his directive, he needed a large amount of intelligence, enough to fool them into thinking he was another player."

"He certainly did a good job with that." Asuna darkly admitted. "Too good, in fact."

"If you don't mind me asking, how are Ms. Suguha and the others that Nyarlathotep interacted with doing?" Kikuoka asked.

"Rika and Shino seem to be doing fine." Kazuto answered. "As for Sugu… she seems to be doing better, but I can't really tell for sure. She hasn't logged back into ALO since we fought Nyarlathotep though, which is pretty understandable."

"She'll be fine." Asuna assured him as she put her hand on his. "She just needs some time."

"If it's any consolation, Chiba will be doing some time for infecting ALO with his virus." Kikuoka revealed. "Because of Nyarlathotep and the potential psychological harm an A.I. like that could've caused, a judge reviewed the case and decided to give Chiba ten years behind bars."

"He should get twenty." Kazuto declared.

"Maybe, but keep in mind that some of what resulted from the virus was an accident." Kikuoka pointed out. "Some of the laws regarding VRMMOs are still being written, so punishments for crimes like this are being issued on a case by case basis. If you ask me, I think that Chiba's punishment is more than appropriate."

"Maybe…" Kazuto replied. "I just hope that Sugu and the others can get over what happened because of all this."

* * *

Shino entered the Dicey Café, an establishment that had become a regular meeting place in the real world for the survivors of SAO and their friends. She came to the café to have a bite with Asuna and Rika and perhaps go see a movie afterward. Shino spotted Rika sitting at a table towards the back of the bar by the jukebox. The spectacled girl went over to the table and exchanged greetings with Rika as she sat across from her.

"I haven't seen you in the game since the whole Nyarlathoptep thing." Rika told her.

"Yeah. I decided to take a little break after what happened." Shino explained. "So… I have to ask, are things cool between you and me? You know… since we both ended up sleeping with Donis… or I guess I should call him Nyarlathotep."

"We're cool." Rika assured her. "In the end we were both duped, and by a guy who wasn't even real to begin with."

"Donis was the prefect guy." Shino admitted. "Too perfect to be real. He had Kirito's looks and a whole lot of charm."

"I've thought about it a lot since it happened, and I guess what drew me to Donis in the end was that he was so much like Kirito." Rika admitted. "I guess we just both wanted a guy that we couldn't have."

"Kirito really is one of a kind." Shino pointed out. "We were just kidding ourselves thinking we had found a guy who was like him but better."

Suddenly a smirk appeared on Rika's face. "Say. I wonder how much Kirito's avatar is like his body in the real world?"

"What do you mean?" Shino asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I just thought of a good way to mess with Asuna when she gets here." Rika explained. "Just follow my lead."

At that moment, Asuna finally arrived and went over to their table. "Hey guys! So, you thought about what movie you might want to go see?"

"Before that Asuna, Shino and I have something we'd like to discuss with you." Rika said with a mischievous grin. "We were wondering if you could help us compare notes."

* * *

It had been two weeks for Suguha since the incident with Nyarlathotep, and it had been a very rough two weeks indeed. She had barely left her room except to go to school or to kendo practice. The kendo training had at least helped Suguha take her mind off of Donis somewhat, but she was still in a dark place. The rest of the time when she wasn't at school or at practice, Suguha had stayed in her room listening to sad music. In reality, Suguha thought that she had been doing some of the things girls her age typically did when they suffered a bad breakup.

Suguha had been getting better though after the incident. The process was slow, but she had been coming to terms with the fact that Donis hadn't even been real. The man she fallen in love with had been nothing more than a fantasy. Donis had been her fantasy of being together with Kazuto and being something more to him than a sister come to life. Suguha had realized that she had been a fool to think that her relationship with Donis could've been anything more than that.

It was still fairly early in the evening as Suguha suddenly heard a knock on the door. She went over to answer it and saw that it was Kazuto.

"Hey Sugu." Kazuto spoke. "How're you doing?"

"…Fine, I guess." Suguha answered. "What do you want?"

"Well… I was just about to log into to ALO to meet with Asuna and the others." Kazuto answered. "There's this one quest we've been planning to go on for the past week, and I thought you'd might like to come. Liz finished a new sword for you to use, since your old ones got broken when… well, you know. You interested?"

"…I'll think about it." Suguha answered.

"We'll be waiting at Liz's shop for the next twenty minutes." Kazuto told her. "I hope I'll see you there."

Suguha closed her door and looked at the amusphere lying on her nightstand. She hadn't put the thing back on since Nyarlathotep had defeated her. The dark-haired girl had to admit that a flight around ALO sounded pretty good at the moment.

After thinking it over for a couple of minutes, Suguha got onto her bed and put the amusphere on. "Link start!"

FIN

* * *

 **Afterward:** I hope the final battle with Azathoth wasn't too anticlimactic for anyone reading. During the planning stages I couldn't help but think that a being like Azathoth could only be defeated by by a mythological figure like Odin. Anyway, this finally concludes another story of mine. I'll admit that this story probably isn't one of my better creations. I probably butchered the characters of Leafa, Lisbeth and Sinon to an extent. If that truly is the case, I apologize. Still, I had fun working on this story, and I hope that everyone else had fun reading it. I don't know when I'll be doing another SAO story at the moment, but I'll try and make the next one that I do better than this one.

Please review and let me know what you think.


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